


1984

by xy_lasszxy



Series: Summer In Garrison [1]
Category: Voltron: Defender of the Universe (1984), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - 1980s, Alternate Universe - High School, Blueboy Magazine, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gay Sex, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Masturbation, Mutual Pining, Single Parent Shiro (Voltron), Teenage Keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-02-28 09:41:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13268787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xy_lasszxy/pseuds/xy_lasszxy
Summary: Thanks to that fucking baseball incident last summer, 17-year-old Keith Kogane is spending his summer working off the debt of a broken window. It's not all bad--Mr. Shirogane is nice and lets him off the hook for most of his chores. However as the summer goes on, secrets and hidden loves seem to come to life, making this summer definitely Kogane's most life-changing.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! It' s hard to write, isn't it? Time goes on and it just takes a toll on you to realize how many months have gone by. Anyways, I love the idea of an 80s' AU for the Voltron gang. Just something about it...80s are in trend, and well, I have a natural obsession. 
> 
> Anyways, I had a lot of helpful feedback on my last work and I really tried to make sure and be more cautious about editing this time. The story does get more fruitful, I just wanted to post an excerpt to see how it goes! THANK YOU ALL for the kudos, the hits, the bookmarks and the comments. I loved it all! 
> 
> My plan with this story is to make it a collection of fics about the summer. Each work becoming more and more intense than the last, and so forgive me if this one is, uh...tedious. Anyways Merry Belated Christmas, and Happy Belated New Year!

1983, Last Summer 

“Fucking hit it, Kogane!” 

The sun was scorching, a nice warmth compared to the cool breeze running through the holes in Keith’s clothes. The helmet protected his bangs from blowing in his eyes alright, but the cold air splashed upon his beaded forehead like the ocean. It kept him awake, his eyes focused on the pitcher’s gaze, and the ball he juggled in between his left hand and mitt. They watched each other intensely, the crowd surrounding the field banging against the fences, roaring with a hunger for victory almost as vicious as Keith’s. The board was its usual cutthroat 3-3, with all of the cul-de-sac kids biting their nails to take home bragging rights, and if he hadn’t been done with the other teams endless gloating for a week….

The truth was, he didn’t mind it. Really, bragging rights were all that they ever played for. That, and the occasional bubble gum or the reward of avoiding some humiliating dare. It was their smug faces that got to him, their doubt—as if just because they won the game, everyone else sucked. If there was one thing to know for, damn sure, it was that in the town of Garrison, AZ, Keith Kogane did not suck at baseball. Nicki Reed remained focused on her position at third base, and she was just awaiting the call to take the game home—but that was only if Keith could actually hit the ball this time and not strike out. He heard their snickers and doubts from behind him, but nothing could distract him from the moment. He breathed from out of his mouth, separating his legs just a shoulder apart and bending down, reeling back the bat and locking his grip on its end, one sudden movement, and the game would determine not only his week but his last summer as a Garrison High School junior. Next summer, none of this wouldn’t matter, it couldn’t—because then he’d be off, his parents’ shoes still stuck in his ass for some Ivy League school or something else as equally pretentious.  
The ball—it caught him by surprise. He had been so deep in thought that he could barely fully swing the bat—it gently kissed the ball, but by the miracle of God—it flew, and goddamn it, it flew like it had wings. Nicki followed pursuit, gliding her way to a home run. By the time everyone had refocused their attention, the cul-de-sac kids had made their way under Keith, lifting him into the air, chanting his name as if he were some baseball god. Damn, this would be one of the best and last summers of his—

“Oh, what the hell?!” 

The distant sound of glass shattering made them all freeze, Keith’s heart freezing as he looked for the source of the sound, nearly dying when he saw the damage of what his victory cost.

“Ah shit, that was Mr. Shirogane’s window….” One of the kids groaned. At the sound of his front door opening, they all scattered like cockroaches, Keith’s tailbone hitting the ground first with a hard thud as the kids threw him off of them, the impact making goosebumps wave over his skin. By the time he had stopped seeing stars, the older, much more muscular man stood over top of him, his arms crossed, his mouth in a stern pout. Keith gulped. 

“Uh, hi sir,” 

“Keith, isn’t it?”

“Uh, yes sir.” 

“Was it you who broke my window?”

Usually, with these matters, Keith would have tried to make a run for it. Because if there was one thing anyone knew for damn sure in the town of Garrison, AZ, was that Keith Kogane was a notorious window-breaker. But he stood there frozen, his babbling soft and caught in the back of his throat. The stern pout turned into a bright smile, Shirogane rubbing the back of his neck and laughing. “Great shot!” 

Mr. Kogane, Keith’s father didn’t share the same enthusiasm. 

 

Summer 1984

“Good morning, Takashi!” 

“Hey there, Chief!” 

The two greeted each other with a loving embrace, Keith’s father running his hand through Shiro’s hair and patting his chest. 

“Again, Shiro—sorry about the window, thanks for covering him like that.” 

“Seriously, it’s no problem. He’s young. He’s outside enjoying the sun while we still have it, that’s commendable already”

There was a pause between the two, watching Keith struggle mops and brooms from out of the older pick-up truck. 

“Akira, uh…you sure you want to make him do this? It is the boy’s last summer before college. He should be enjoying it.” 

“Ah, no—Shiro, the boy’s still accountable for his actions. My son needs to know that his actions have consequences, or rewards” his voice was projected for Keith’s hearing, but then simmered back down between the two men. “There’ll be a time I’m sure where Luna needs to do the same, I’m sure.” 

“Maybe if she’s not as smart-mouthed as her mother.” The two laughed, Akira taking Shiro’s shoulders lovingly. 

“And how is Luna?” 

“She’s good. She’s been crying a lot recently, missing her mom but…for the most part she’s happy.” 

“Nothing from Allura?” 

“Just some instructions on how to warm up the bottles and put her back to sleep at night…nothing else…”

“I’m sure she still loves you both wholeheartedly.” 

“Yeah, I’m starting to doubt that.” 

“Hey…” Akira smiled. “It’s not all so bad. You still got it, Shiro. You’re single now.” 

“Yeah, that’s true.” 

“How about stopping by that diner and talking to Lucy? I’m sure she has an all-you-can-eat buffet underneath that skirt.”

Akira patted Shiro’s chest once more as they laughed, Keith grumbling under his breath past them and into the house. “He’s going to pay back every cent for that window, in the only way I knew how at a boy his age. He’ll work, he’ll get off, he’ll come home and work on his schooling, and that’s that.”

“Well, all the power to him.” Shiro’s voice returned to its natural whisper. “I’ll take care of him.” 

As Keith walked outside for the last remaining cleaning supplies, Shiro cleared his throat. “What time do you want him home? I can drive him once I get off work?” 

“Oh no, that’s alright, he’ll be riding his bike here once it gets out of the shop. He knows the rules, back in the house by sundown, and if past sunset, eight or ten at the latest.” 

Keith stepped from out of the car, making sure not to slam the door as hard as he wanted to. He took his time, taking a deep breath and sighing before walking from behind his father’s truck. He nearly cringed when his father called him. 

“Keith, come over here!” 

Asshole old man…. He cleared his throat and made it to the two men, Akira grabbing his son by the shoulders.

“Keith, I don’t want you thinking of this as some punishment. It’s a lesson about responsibility, yes, but it’s also a reminder to us both that you’re growing older. And soon, you’ll be on your own. I love you, son. And I want nothing but the best, I swear.” 

“…Love you too, Dad.” He kissed his father back, staring down at the porch stones. 

Akira wrapped his arms around Shiro once more. “See you later, ‘Kashi” 

“Bye, Chief” 

He opened his car door and patted the body. “See you tonight, pup.” 

“Later, Dad.”  
Their watching the truck drive off left for an awkward silence. 

“Here, uh…I’ll show you inside. It’s not often that I have help around the house, forgive me.” 

Keith’s eyes grew large with the look of the living room— a large Mitsubishi stood against the wall, glass coffee table and end tables that complemented huge beige leather recliners. God, what type of job did this guy even have? Shiro rubbed his neck.

“It’s not much, but whenever you’re done with chores, you can always sit and watch TV. We have cable—cartoons, sports, you name it. If you want a drink—“

He walked over to the kitchen, opening the cupboards. “Under the sink, you have sodas—Coke, Sprite, anything you want just let me know, a Fry’s is a mile from where I work so. I usually keep the fridge stocked out of habit, but I’ll make sure to leave some money out if you need to buy a pizza…” 

Keith couldn’t help but notice—his eyes were a little sunken, puffy. For a guy with a house as nice as this, he didn’t seem to be living it up right now. The older man had a peak of gray that contrasted from his black, though gray had started to sprout there as well. He hadn’t remembered him looking so worn-out last summer, but he guessed it had been an entire year, and a broken window could do that to you—maybe? 

“That’s the kitchen. If you ever need to call me, the phone’s right here. My work number is just below the phone there. I’ll show you the bath—“ 

A baby’s distant coo averted his attention. “Keith, it seems like Luna’s waking up, I’ll go grab her and we can finish the tour. Do you mind grabbing a bottle for her out of the fridge?” 

In a moment, he was gone to answer the beckons of the princess upstairs. He retreated to the kitchen, opening the fridge to find the bottles, grabbing one and placing it on the table. He was planning to warm it up anyway, right? He searched around for the pots, looking underneath to oven to find a smaller pot, placing it on the oven. Turning it on the heat, Keith placed the bottle inside of the now water-filled pot and awaited Shiro by the stairs. He could hear Luna before she entered the room, Shiro’s voice echoing throughout the hall. 

She cooed, Shiro coming down the stairs with her little hand wrapped around his finger. “Good morning, Princess. Alright, alright…” 

When he looked up, he had a weak smile. “Luna, this is Keith—he’s going to be helping us clean up this summer. Say hi, Luna.” 

Her eyes were stars, big and blue and full of everlasting wonder. She had her father’s smile, and a mixture of her mother and father’s hair, with black and silver curls cuddling her face. She smiled weakly just as her father, her smile growing as Keith did. Cute kid. 

“Hi, Luna.” 

She cooed once more, her hands reaching out towards him, her bottom fidgeting as she longed to climb from out of his hands. 

“Oh, I…” 

“Are you comfortable holding children? It’s alright if you want to…she really, uh, wants you heh.” 

Keith reached out for Luna, cupping her bottom as he had learned with his own nieces and nephews. She held his necklace in her hands, her head resting against his chest as she babbled. Shiro paused, stepping back to look at the two before scratching the back of his neck.

“She usually isn’t so open to meeting new people…” 

Keith was lost by the baby’s affection. “I warmed up her bottle there.”

Not bad for the first day, Shiro took the bottle from out of the pot. The temperature was perfect. “Thank you, Keith. That was mighty fine of you.” Keith handed her back gently, Shiro whispering.

“Lulu, your bottle’s ready…” To Shiro’s surprise, she accepted the bottle willingly, the nipple entering her mouth, her eyes closing with her feeding. He smiled. 

“Thank you, Keith.” There was a pause between them. “Here, I’ll finish showing you the rest of the house.”


	2. Chapter 2

He couldn’t really explain it—all his life, he just…liked guys. Boys were all he had known, his father had him, his uncles had nothing but boys as Keith grew up; he was enrolled in all boys’ private school at the age of 12. He was just more comfortable around them. Girls were pretty; beautiful, delicate. There was no doubt that he had found them extremely beautiful. But, there was something about men that, well, Keith preferred. He always had been like that. As a young boy, he remembered kissing childhood crushes behind the school while waiting for his ride home, trading kisses on the cheek for trading cards and gum. In middle school, he just knew that it was something bad. He knew that boys were supposed to like girls, and girls were supposed to like boys, and he knew that he could never limit himself to that.

Middle school he had first and last girlfriend and she was, well, if anything very helpful in helping him to discover who he was. Or at least what he liked. She was soft, sweet, shy and yet so loving when they had been alone. She had been his first, something? He remembered her lifting her shirt to him, unlatching her bra, her skin flushed with the temperature of his room. “I want you to touch me, Keith. Please?”

And so, he did, he touched her. He ran a finger down to her left breast first, taking a pause in between each movement for her nod or moan of affirmation. He would cup them in his hands and massage her nipples, tug and pull as he pleased before leaning into her and helping himself to taste her skin, sucking from each one and feeling her hands wrap around his head and locks of his hair.

He admired girls, he liked their natural charisma, their beauty, their bodies and the twinkle in their eyes. Lying on his bed, he could think of that moment when he kissed his girlfriend’s breasts, in such vivid detail, but…admittedly, it didn’t turn him on. Is there something wrong with me? 

He’s thought about being gay; he’s gone over the idea several times in his head. The term plays back like a broken record almost. Am I gay? The problem was he didn’t act gay, or talk, dress, walk it—feel it. He just meant it all felt natural to him, he didn’t see why he needed a name for it. And he didn’t see why gay had to have to a denotation that it was odd, or…different.

“Keith! Get dressed—it’s almost time to go to Shiro’s house!” His voice echoed throughout the house, Keith laying back defeated, using his pillow to drown out his voice. At the second beacon, he groaned, dragging himself from out of bed and getting on to his day, the question returning to the back of his mind.

 

It was agreed upon that Shiro would keep his front door unlocked for Keith, and have a list of things for him to do below the phone. This morning, Keith shivered upon his front step—now frustrated, and half-popsicle. He had knocked for about five times before it had opened to reveal Luna in a young girl’s arms; her hair short and the frames leaning against the tip of her nose thick. She held Luna closed to her chest as she analyzed him, the baby holding her cheek and reaching for the glasses. 

“I know you. P…Pidge? Nerdy girl from math Pidge?” 

“Hi?” She cradled Luna, sliding her glasses up from Luna’s reach. 

“It’s Keith” 

“Yeah, I know.” 

“Shiro didn’t tell you about me? I’m…I’m helping him around the house this summer. Cleaning, mowing, stuff like that?” 

Her eyes lit up. “For a second, I thought that list had been for me.” 

There was a moment of silence.

Keith cleared his throat. “May I come in?” 

“Sorry…” She stepped back, kissing Luna’s forehead before wiping her mouth and sitting down in the living room. 

“So you…you babysit for him?” 

“Yeah. I’ve been babysitting ever since Allura and he had Luna. So why are you here anyway? He’s never really needed help cleaning before…” 

“Last summer, I broke his window playing baseball. He paid for its repairs, but my father wants me to pay the price back in labor.” 

“How much was it?” 

“It was the double pane window to his bedroom, so about $350.00” 

“Jesus, that’ll take all summer.” 

Keith scoffed. “Yeah, I know.” 

“And…what time do you leave?” 

“I usually leave around 7:30? You?” 

“5:30—I tutor after school and work on the weekends, so.”

“I’m just at home usually working on scholarships, so there’s not much excuse.” 

” She retreated up the stairs, Keith waving at Luna simply as her wonder-filled eyes caught him.

“Right. Well, don’t touch the Eggos. He buys them for me. And if you take some yogurt from the fridge, try to not take as much peach, kay?” 

“Where are you going?” 

“After she goes to sleep, I like to read on the patio—there are a few baby monitors around the house. I should be able to hear her outside just fine. Your list is just below the phone.” 

“Thanks.” 

They departed, Keith grabbing the note and quietly groaning at the small list. It read: 

Hey Keith! Sorry if I forgot to tell you about Pidge, she helps me with Luna when I go to work. I told her she could start leaving a little earlier since you’ll be here until 7 anyways—I hope that was okay, Luna seems to take to you. Anyways, I don’t have much to ask today, could you just dust and wipe down all the windows in the house for me? After that, I should be home to take out the trash, but if not that’s the only two things I’ll ask of you besides watching Luna until I come home. Thanks again -Shiro.

He began with the bottom floor windows. First, he had made his way from the living room to the kitchen—grunting as he made sure to not miss a spot. For such a nice house, the windows did after all need some dusting, or rather some scrubbing and intense TLC. But Keith had been doing an amazing job if he could say so himself, each window clear enough to show his reflection. Clear enough to show the frustration which had built in his furrowing eyebrows, his dry lips, the hidden hunger written on his face. How she beckoned out to him, her breasts in his mouth, the amount of innocence that rested there. The uncertainty of what to do next; he surely had matured since then, and he craved the opportunity to prove it to someone. Anybody, who cared to see. 

Keith had been on the couch when Shiro finally made it home. Shiro smiled weakly, the hours of work hanging over him like a shadow, his exhaustion great but his pride even greater. Luna had been resting in Keith’s arms, her little cheek leaning against his chest, her hands close to her little body, her eyes clothes and the two covered in a blanket. The sight was beautiful. He would have hated to wake them up so abruptly—he had probably been exhausted from his chores today. The house looked renovated from the shine in the windows. He laughed, thank God, it’s not daytime, or there would be a burn in the carpet. Luna seemed to have been sleeping more than she had in the whole week. He sighed at how clean the house had been, how shiny, how trash less. 

No, instead he would perhaps wash off the stress of the day—what he needed most now was the feeling of the shower running over his back, through his hair, and down his spine. 

 

When Keith awoke, Luna had still been there, cuddled up next to him, the house completely silent, dark. He looked around, carefully picking himself up from the couch, her still bundled up in his arms. She would rest better in her crib anyways—he had been sweaty and overly warm. He made his way up the stairs slow and steady, looking around to find the faint pink coming from one room and following it. The pink night light lit up the small bedroom, Keith placing Luna in the crib gently, tucking her in with the blanket over her little chubby legs. She was precious sleeping there. When he checked the time on his watch, it read 8:15. Damn, he hadn’t meant to stay so long nor had he meant to fall asleep. But he guessed he had done so, and now he might as well had got himself together before leaving. It would probably be best to tell Shiro Luna was safe and sound in her bed. When he stepped out of the room, he made sure to keep the door ajar. He followed the small beam of yellow light at the end of the hall, the sound of running water growing as he stepped closer. When he came to the door, he knocked gently and cleared his throat. 

“Uh, Mr. Shiro?”

The door revealed to Keith’s near-death experience; the steam which had been festering in the bathroom escaped from the room and brushed onto his face. God…. he didn’t know exactly what to feel, or not feel since he could feel goosebumps coat over his skin—his, uh…swelling up…against his leg. Shiro looked like a god. Jesus, every inch of him was sculptured—water dewed along his collarbone, down his breast and his tight abdomen. He was chiseled in every way, the lines of his hips making hints towards his….

There was hair everywhere; he had been covered in it. It would have been almost an understatement to compare him to a werewolf, a patch of thick, black hair trailing from his stomach and peaking just enough from under the towel. The front of his hair nearly covered his eyes as he smiled. He pushed his hair all back, taking the last bit of shaving cream from off his face, his scuff now groomed. 

“You wanna come inside? It’s cold out there.” 

“I…” 

Shiro laughed. “I’m just kidding Keith. What’s up?” 

Keith choked out the works, his face flushed. “L…Luna’s asleep. In her bed.” 

He smiled, patting Keith’s hair and running his hand down the back of his neck, fixing the curls that had been mangled by the couch. “Thanks, Champ.”

“Yeah, sure…”

Before Keith could turn away and start down the stairs, Shiro called him. 

“Keith?” 

“Uh, yeah?” 

Shiro braced himself against the doorway, Keith’s erection becoming a little too much to handle. 

“I really appreciate today. You don’t know how much of a help you’ve already been. I appreciate that. Really.” 

Keith forced out a laugh. “No problem.”

“Hey look—does your dad still make those teriyaki kabobs?” 

“Once in a blue moon.” There was a pause between them.

“Right; well, I said that because I know you probably get fed well over your dad’s, but we would love to have you over for dinner sometime. Maybe you can bring your dad and just talk? Have a guy’s night?” 

“I’m sure he would love that. Goodnight Mr. Shiro.” 

“Goodnight, Keith.” The goodbye sounded sweet, called to Keith’s sensations and awoke something inside of him. He laughed shortly through his nose before waving and leaving the Shirogane household. 

What the fuck? It was a bitch to rush home on his bike—to just feel himself bulging against his jeans. He had to go home, he had to fix this…mess. His heart was racing. God, he could feel it…throbbing? He had never felt it throb before, pulsating like his heart….

He could barely say hello to his father, he jumped off his bike as soon as he had yanked on the brakes, guiding the bike inside of the open garage and closing its doors. His converse squeaking as he ran into the house. His father, splayed out on the couch hadn’t bothered to look back but heard his son. 

“Make sure to lock the door, pup.” 

“Sorry, dad.” 

“You alright?” 

Keith stopped, holding himself, wincing at its stiffness. He took a breath. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Just tired.” 

“Your mother made dinner. Some pad see ew on the stove and Colas in the fridge.” 

“Oh, okay—I’ll…I’ll be down in a second.” 

“Okay great job today, by the way.” 

“What?” 

Akira looked back and smiled. “Shiro told me about your work today—keep this up and you’ll have it paid off in no time. Eh…you gotta pee or something?” 

“Yeah, um, yes! Gotta go, love you!”

“Love you too-Don’t wake up your mom!” 

He had closed the door, ripping his shirt off from off his frame and slicking his hair back with his fingers, his breathing labored. Never had he felt this before, this rush, this need to give into his own temptations. He craved the touch of his own hand, he craved as hard as….as…okay, he didn’t fucking know right now. He just…. God. He just needs this. He swallowed his spit, licking his dry lips as he kicked both shoes from off of his feet, his hands unzipping his pants and freeing his member. He let his body hit the bed, his bare back resting against his sheets as he now, licked his hand and wrapped it around his shaft, his eyes closing his whimper in a whisper. He just looked so fucking good. 

It felt like what you could imagine pouring water over a hot pan would feel. Okay, uh...bad analogy. It felt cooling, the more spit he worked onto the tip of his swollen dick, the better it felt. He shuddered, making sure to rub over the head just how he had liked it, and to trap it in his hold. Already he had begun feeling the precome. It dripped from out the tip and worked better than his spit, his hands hugging himself firmly and working from the very base to the tip, his body covered in goosebumps. He picked up on his speed, letting his left hand get caught in his hair as he continued to stroke with his right. Losing feeling in his feet, his legs, the way he was stroking, he knew that he would be coming soon.  
He couldn’t help but imagine Shiro standing there, with his own cock in his hand. The thought of him rubbing it, taking his finger and calling Keith over to it. He didn’t know why, but that thought. To be able to…maybe just touch it? Taste it? 

Or feel it inside of him? His hand moved faster at that thought. To let it enter his mouth and slide deeper and deeper until the taste of Shiro’s precome was far too back in his throat to taste. To make him come. How he imagined his mouth to open wide, his eyes closed, his peppered eyebrows furrowed, deep moaning overpowering Keith’s moans of determination. He came at the thought of Shiro’s come splashing all around in his mouth, leaving a trail from Keith’s mouth to the end of Shiro’s dick. He left himself a mess, the come over his chest and stomach as he left himself fall against his leg. Fuck….  
I…I…I think I’m gay. Keith stared up at the ceiling, his eyes drifting among the popcorn ceiling. He left out a defeated sigh, taking the pillow from under him and covering his face.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to that fucking baseball incident last summer, 17-year-old Keith Kogane is spending his summer working off the debt of a broken window. It's not all bad--Mr. Shirogane is nice and lets him off the hook for most of his chores. However as the summer goes on, secrets and hidden loves seem to come to life, making this summer definitely Kogane's most life-changing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have you guys seen the most recent season? Because you should. And you should also read up on the show's gay character. Mhmmmmmmmm ;)   
> Anyways, thank you guys as always for reading, giving this piece your time and attention, and the kudos/comments/love/criticism! I love it all. Please continue to have a great summer.

There now seemed to be this ultimatum. He stared at himself intensely in the mirror, hair wet and slicked back, with drops from the shower still dripping down his face. When he had his hair like that, he resembled the model from the Blueboy issue. Dew dropped down the middle of his lip, and he was sure he had seen that exact picture somewhere within that magazine—but anyways, he swallowed hard before continuing to get dressed. If Shiro had been gay, and he had been gay….and if he wanted Shiro…. was there any chance that Shiro wanted him as well?    

So, there came in the ultimatum. Did he want to find out?  If not, then he would be forced to try and find a way to get over him and drop this altogether. But if he did…how far was he willing to go? What if he was wrong, and Shiro had no sexual attraction to him. _I mean, why should he have?_ Keith was no man. He had no job, no real money, no car, nothing to his name that made him some irreplaceable lover. Before this summer, he hadn’t even given being a lover any thought. He was pretty new to the lover thing, pretty new to the gay thing—overall some inexperienced weakling with a newfound fascination for something he couldn’t truly have understood. Even if he wanted to. Sex ed never really mentioned these kind of things, you know?

                             Yet, that didn’t mean that stopped him from wanting to try—from wanting to learn. Keith, though he didn’t like showing it, was one of his school’s fastest learners. With his deeply-hidden intellectuality, he took after his mother. They were twins when it came to mentalities. Really, he may have had Akira’s well, everything else, but he was his mother’s son. And because of this there were ways that his father would never understand him.

                             So, what he was inexperienced? He wanted to learn more than anyone he had ever known. He wanted to feel what he was sure no other kid his age wanted to feel, he wanted to know. Probably more than any of his friends in a lifetime. When he closed his eyes, he saw himself in love. He saw himself expressing his love in the only way he had learned how to. When he imagined himself being happy, he saw himself bent down before the man he craved. He saw himself kissing his knuckles, his arms, his chest, relinquishing all of what made him Keith to this man. Yet. He didn’t know what that itself meant. The way his mother had explained both lust and love to him...it just, he just—didn’t know. But he wanted to learn all that there was to learn, with the man who seemed to have known all there was to know about everything, and if he hadn’t wanted to teach him, well…he would cross that bridge when he got there.

 

He breathed out a deep sigh, realizing he hadn’t been breathing when daydreaming. In a blink, Keith knew his answer.

 

 

                             Summer these days showed no mercy; before he had completely biked to Shiro’s house, he had already been drenched with sweat. The sun was so relentless, that when he was cutting the grass again, he hadn’t bothered keeping his shirt on. He took the drenched cloth and covered it over his head. The sun was so relentless, Pidge hadn’t even bothered to bring Luna to the lawn chairs. This time, Pidge and she watched from the inside of the house. Pidge kept her eyes on Keith. Perhaps she didn’t realize, but Keith noticed even still. And when he had finished mowing the lawn, he came in with his skin flushed and bare. He took the drenched tank top and wrapped it around his neck, a tall glass of lemonade in his face when he revealed himself. He looked up to see Pidge, smiling at her just a little bit when she passed the drink. She was cute when she was trying to be flirty. She had left her glasses up in her hair to bring out the honey of her eyes, her cheeks as red as Keith’s skin.

“Thank you, Pidge.”

“No problem.” She returned to Luna, who reached out towards Keith with an excited squeal. He laughed at her, picking her up and kissing her little bloated cheeks. She cooed at Keith’s “Hello, pretty girl.”                                             

 

It was clear that Pidge had no intentions of leaving the house today. They were both dressed in the thickest of sweaters, with Luna’s head wrapped snug in a scarf, just as Pidge with her own hair. Pidge carried Luna back to the couch besides her, the two continuing to look at TV, Luna with her big brown eyes stuck on the TV.

“What are you guys watching?”

“Dynasty” They both answered, Luna babbling out what she could make, her eyes not leaving the TV. They both stared at her before smirking to themselves.

“Well I guess there will be no sharing the TV today…” Keith laughed, looking about for the usual checklist. Pidge looked back before turning back to the screen. “There’s no note today if you were wondering. Mr. Shiro said he wouldn’t be long since he took the day off. He said he was going to be right back after he rides into town for some groceries…”

“Thanks…”

“Yeah.” She seemed to have wanted to say something else, but was unsure.

“You’re alright?”

“Is this some…new experiment thing?”

“What?”

“I mean, your clothes, the hair—is it apart of some new developing bad boy get up?”

“Does it look like some new developing bad boy get up?”

There was a pause between them, Pidge speechless as her cheeks reddened. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no….I’m not making fun of you—I’m not saying you’re trying too hard—”

“—Um, thanks?”

“—No, no... I just meant to…I wanted to say to you…You look good—you look good. You. look. good.” 

“Thanks,” He smiled. “I know what you mean.”

“Words, just are hard…”

“I understand.”

” I…just meant to ask what changed? Why the new hair, the tank tops- the shorts?”

Pidge looked to see Luna staring at her, her widened eyes innocent yet judging.

“I guess I just wanted a change you know? We’re seniors, so might as well start looking like it right?”

“Yeah, I get it.”

With the rattle of the door, Shiro appeared, hands purple with the number of bags in his hand. He stared at Keith for a moment before clearing his throat, “Keith….”

“Are there any more groceries, Mr. Shiro?”

“Yes sir, they’re in the back of the truck.” He dropped the bags near the island before walking over to the couch and picking Luna up. “Hi baby girl—look at you!”

She squealed in her father’s arms, her little fingers immediately holding his cheeks and fingering at his mouth.

“It is cold, isn’t it? Here, let’s go turn it down just a tad…”

Keith returned with the rest of the groceries, closing the door behind him and placing the remaining on the floor. When Shiro returned, his eyes traced Keith over again. The corner of his mouth curled into a smile as he cradled Luna. “You changed your hair?”

“Yes sir.”

“I knew it.” Shiro smiled down at Luna. “You just finished the lawn??”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well if you like, I’m going to put away groceries and start dinner if you’d like to stick around. I got some spare change of clothes upstairs. They’ll be a little big on you, but you can take a shower if you want.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Pidge, did she eat anything yet? …. Pidge?”

She had been lost, staring. Keith looked back to find her staring, Pidge snapping back to reality. “Uh, sorry Mr. Shiro. I had given her breakfast and lunch,”        

“Great. Thank you so much Pidge. Do you tutor tonight? I would love for you to stay as well”

“I do—though I would love to stay sometime.”

“Well, we’ll make sure to before you guys leave for school.”    

Shiro looked back at Keith, his smile and eyebrows stretched. He winked at Keith before returning to Pidge.

_A wink? What the fuck did that mean?_ Keith pondered, trying to not let his eyebrows furrow too much. But when he had looked up, he had found Pidge, who only stared once again. But this time, accompanying her was Shiro, he still had that stretched smile and that mischievous eyebrow. _Am I dreaming?_

Pidge grabbed her things, looking at Keith once more. “Goodnight, Mr. Shiro. Goodnight, Keith”

“Goodnight, Pidge.”                       

Pidge left, a wave of a new innocence washed over her. Her eyes twinkling, her cheeks flushed, her glasses crooked. And as soon as she left, Shiro took no time letting out his excitement. “Everyone get a load of my man, Keith!”

 

His youth had been marred by fatherhood, Keith could tell. But it was cute. He had gently punched Keith in the shoulder with one arm, cradling Luna with the next—the little girl shrieking with excitement as well. They both seemed to be on the same page, Luna with her eyes looking over Keith— one of her little eyebrows raised.

He blushed, smiling sheepishly and laughing gently. “You really like it?”

“Like it? Keith—did you see Pidge?! She was staring at you. She likes you!”

“Oh,” Keith had lost his energy. “Yeah, I—”

“—Is this why you…” Shiro the Dad stopped in thought, looking down at Keith in pride. “That’s the reason for the hair! And the clothes!”

“What? No—”

“—Keith. It’s alright, I won’t tell your old man!”

“Pidge is just a friend.”

“That’s good Keith. A lot of good things end fast because people skip being friends. I’ll go put Luna to bed and then we can get dinner started. Let’s go Luna Moon-A”

Luna cooed, Keith waiving at her defeatedly. _Fuck_.

 

His plan had worked; he had reeled in the bait, just the wrong bait. Nevertheless, he washed away the sweat, the odor--the gel which had hardened over his locks. He let the water make their paths down the sculpture of what was his body. The hot water kissed his neck just as he wanted Shiro to. If he stood still enough, he could imagine Shiro in the shower with him, imagine the feel of his tongue over his skin, the feeling of his body within the grip of Shiro’s hands, goosebumps washing over him.

The temperature rose within him, with his nerves tingling over his frame.                                    

         He could imagine the taste of the older man’s mouth on his. _No…._

He tried to discipline himself, but he felt to submission, feeling his hand trace down his body. He _ached_ for his own touch right now, craving the feeling of the magic he was beginning to be able to cast upon himself. All the right spots, all the paces and tempos that could make his knees buckle and muscles tense. They began to shortly, Keith whimpering softly to himself as he drooled into his hand and began to run his hands over himself. _Please_ …. he begged himself. Please was meant for more than just himself. It was for Shiro in hopes that he would be blessed enough to feel his touch like he did in his wildest dreams. It was for God, that he would bless him with the opportunity to feel Shiro fit all of himself into Keith, to use him as he pleased.

                             A shivering sigh left from out of the boy. Vivid imagination was something he was given from his mother as well, a strong sense of what Shiro would feel like coming to him, turning him on. He could feel a hand, the more he concentrated, around his neck, the felling of a whisper in his ear with the sound of a low, honeyed octave. A voice raspy yet warm that asked:

_Do you want me to go further?_

Yes.

_Yes? Say it. Say it loud._

Yes, a bit sterner, louder.

_Make me believe you. Scream it._

Yes! – Keith’s yell echoed throughout his own head, his tongue running over his dry lips, his swallow hard and his hands began to match how he envisioned Shiro’s touch. Hard, with enough pressure to redden his skin, but loving even still. Attentive. Next, he imagined it like a movie—bringing Keith over to the bed, back arched with the thick hand tangled within his hair pinning him into the bed, Shiro relentless in his grasp. He imagined himself like he saw in the magazine, awaiting the touch of a man. His muscles would tense and release with Shiro’s playing with his hole, his middle finger working lube around it, snickering to himself.

_I should’ve warned you. It’s cold._

He could envision the goosebumps rising, the cold wash over him. The feeling of the man entering just his tip into the young boy, the amount of stress of something new, the amount of love within the touch he could feel on his back.  _Ssh, shh, shh…. just breathe._ He took a deep inhale, his hand working wonders, Shiro’s hands working further and setting his heart aflame. All at once, he would slide the rest of his cock in, working his hips slowly in the beginning, working to a faster pace and building. He could imagine himself yelping out, eyes squeezed shut and mouth open in awe, the sheets tightening in his fists as he took whatever Shiro gave him. This was enough to make Keith come the first time, a clean load shooting forward toward the drain, knocking the wind from out of Keith’s lungs. He didn’t stop there.

 

He let his mind travel in places he could only be in his dreams, imagining himself up against the wall in Shiro’s hold, on the floor, buried within the covers, over on his palms with his legs separated wide. Not after long he came again, this time, making his body tremble. He came to a satisfying halt, his breaths deepening, his muscles finally relaxing. He hung his head, letting the water run down his body and through his hair. When he had changed into his clothes, he could smell the faint signature smell of Shiro.

 

He came down to see the two awaiting, well, Shiro waiting. He fed Luna, mimicking her as he choo-choo’d the spoon of mash potatoes into her mouth, Luna working the food into her mouth and swallowing eagerly. It was her who gave Keith’s position away, cooing charmingly at him. Shiro turned around and smiled weakly. “Keith.”

 

Keith smiled, laughed nervously. “You know, it really wasn’t like what it looked like back there—”

“—You remind me so much of myself when I was younger.”

Keith lost his train of thought. “I do?”

“Oh yeah. I was a little heartthrob at your age too. I had a few crushes back in my day. And I’m talking before I started having to dye my greys.”

“Heartthrob?” He didn’t know whether he was dreading this conversation or enjoying it.

“There were so many girls that wanted me. So many, and your father too. Together, we were unstoppable. We had lines of girls just wanting to kiss us at the kissing booth stands…I swear they almost were a mile long.”

Keith sat down, Shiro plating him some food as he talked. “There was something about us, I presume. The way we dressed, or the way we didn’t care about rules.” He laughed at himself.

“The attention must have been nice.”

“Oh, your father loved it.”

“And you didn’t?”

It was almost as if the question threw him off his train of thought. His smile broke for just one second, and then Shiro began to act in a way Keith had never seen him before. Shiro bit deep into his lip, nervous energy running through his hands. He hurried the servings onto the plate and passed it to Keith. His laughs were airy, alert.

“Me? It was nice, but…”

“But?”

“I was focused on one person at the time. Out of all the girls, no matter how pretty they were, how popular, how sweet or smart…I only wanted one person.” The ball was in his court, and he managed to get the attention off himself. “But you’re not interested in hearing some old man’s story. Besides, you’re the one with the attention now.” He smiled, nudging Keith knowingly. Oh, what he didn’t know.

“I’m not that into Pidge.” Keith started. “She’s cute, nerdy—sweet. But I don’t think I’m into her.”

“Oh, so there’s someone else?”

“Sorta?”

“Is it Nancy Corrigan? The freckled amber girl that walks around here?”

Keith laughed to himself. “No.”

_Nancy already had a boyfriend. Or seven_.

“How about Ellie Knight—I know her parents live around here somewhere. I see her walking her retriever before I go to work.” Keith shook his head again. This was fun.

“Mystery girl, huh? Someone I’ve never seen before?”

Keith remained silent, Shiro laughing through his nose, taking his hand and playing with Keith’s hair. The two laughed. Keith continued,” I actually want to hear more about you, Mr. Shiro.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. Who was your special someone?”

He could feel tension rising, though Shiro never let it show within his body language or facial expressions.

 

“Allura and I had been best friends since freshmen year. It was me, her and our mutual friend Lotor—we were all so close.”

A glossy-look appeared in his eyes as he began to speak, picking up the plate to feed Luna the last of her mash potatoes and peas meal.

“It wasn’t until my senior year that I had really looked at her. She had grown since we were kids, and blossomed into this beautiful, young smart woman.   I took her to prom, then we went to AU together, and we had Luna right after. We weren’t expecting to be so young of parents, but times were better back then. It was so much easier to get an apartment, to pay for everything—we had had our house, well-paying jobs. I told her that I loved her and that I wanted to start a family with her. Everything was such a rush.” He took a breath, that nostalgic look leaving.

“May I ask where she is now? I don’t want to pry.”

“She left.” He gave Keith a look, his eyes beginning to mourn. She needed to live her life, so she parted….” There was a long pause for a while. Long enough to where Keith wanted to apologize for asking at all, but Shiro ended with, “So make sure to take your time, kid. Life is long. And time…you’ve got plenty of.”

“What happened to Lotor?”

“Lotor—” Luna interrupted them, squealing and beating her tiny firsts on the highchair tray. Shiro wiped her mouth, handing over a teething ring to the baby, her squealing calming.

“Lotor after college went on to live his life.”

“Do you ever see him? Talk to him anymore?”

Shiro shook his head. Before the conversation could pause again, Shiro nudged Keith once more. “Maybe you can bring that special girl over someday?”

Keith smiled some more, Shiro smiling back. He played with Keith’s hair some more, then taking time to fix it, Keith stiffening within his tough. His eyes had fixed on his hair as he continued to fix it, to run the gel from off the tips.

“…Just like me when I was younger.” There had been a moment with them just looking at each other, as almost seeing each other for the first time. Shiro had lost his understanding of place and time, his face relaxing into a blank expression of thought and wonder, his hair still in Keith’s hair. And Keith, well, he had been focusing on the calmness of Shiro’s eyes. How they stared directly back at him with an ease. A second seemed to have felt like a long time until the phone rang. Shiro shot up from his seat, clearing his throat. “That must be your father.”

 

Shiro cleared his throat before picking up the call, a hand running through his hair. “Hello? Hey champ, hey…. Yeah I invited Keith to dinner tonight.” There was a laugh. “Yeah no, sorry about that. I’ve kidnapped your boy. He did such a good job on the lawn today, I just cooked dinner. He should be home shortly. Sorry about that again Champ. Love you too, bye bye.”

Shiro looked back at Keith; biting into his lip once more. “That was your dad. He was worried.”

Keith shrugged. “I bet.” He said, not wanting to move a muscle. He and Luna gave each other a look before she continued to focus on her gnawing. Shiro came closer to him, now standing over top of him, his hands now in his pockets.

“You should probably start on the way back. It is starting to get dark. But come back over for dinner and we’ll continue to talk.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, whatever you want kiddo.”

 

As Keith got up, Shiro placed a hand on his head. “Goodnight, kiddo.” Keith smiled to himself as he walked from out of the house. He hadn’t noticed Shiro in the doorway when he left. He waved with Luna’s little hand, smiling at him before smiling at her, kissing her cheek, and closing the door. With a smile and a kick, Keith was off into the night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you guys! I don't have much time for anything anymore, so this is one of the main stories I still work on. It seems that you guys are having just as much fun reading as I am writing, so thank you for the love and support! Thank you for the kudos and the comments <3 <3 I can't respond as much as I was able to, but I definitely do read them--and still try to work with constructive criticism and questions you guys may have! 
> 
> Again, thanks so much again for reading! Enjoy!

Something told Keith that Shiro hadn’t told him all of the story that night. Regardless, he pondered on it. Gazing up at the stars through the small window of his bedroom, with the idea of a young Shiro. Young, and in love. He didn’t imagine Shiro really being any different. Maybe some newfound marks of age, the general sunken eyes most parents had in common—but Keith could see a younger, defined face. The same smile but a bit brighter, eyes that hadn’t met the gaze of heartbreak yet. The same black hair, just without the start of grays. He said that he had focused on one person when he was in school. That it was Allura, and that it didn’t really start to kick in until their senior year, but…Keith wanted to bite his own tongue. He didn’t believe it. Today, while cleaning the gutters for the first time, he thought about it. He might have had a good poker face, and maybe good body language, but Shiro’s eyes told him everything—or at least Keith would’ve liked to think so.

                             When he talked about Allura, his eyes dimmed—they became sad and remained locked on his plate. When he talked about this “ _Lotor”_ , they became dewy-eyed. Sad, yet with a hint of nostalgia. Of love, or whatever came closest to it. He wondered. Considered. Maybe Lotor was more than just a best friend? Pidge’s voice called from below him.

 

“Hey!”

He looked down at her, a subtle smile. “Hey back!”

“It’s going to storm, soon! Maybe you should come down.”

“In a little bit—I’m almost done.”

“Okay! Luna and I’ll be waiting!”

She smiled, placing her hands in her back pockets and walking back into the house. Perhaps, another time somewhere in another world, Keith could have dated Pidge. She was the girl next door completely, with thin, oversized frames that made up most of her face. She styled her short hair a little tamer this evening though usually, he liked the wildness of her curls, and how they always seemed to compliment her face shape. Her frame was slender, but undoubtedly cute regardless and long, athletic legs. Keith admired how different she was. She didn’t care about lip glosses and makeup in the same craze the other girls did at their school. Instead, she was usually stuck in her books, adventure—science fiction, she didn’t care. She was nerdy, and that was refreshing in the sense that she was simply herself, and proud of it. Most of the girls were too scared to be themselves. But not Pidge. Yeah…in some other time, in some other world, he could have dated Pidge.

                             Interesting enough, that wasn’t her real name. Her real name was Katie, but she demanded Pidge after most people called her ‘Kavewoman Katie’ back in sophomore year. A rumor surfaced about her kissing her brother Matt behind the gymnasium. He tried not to think it back into his memory when he saw her, but he could see the anxiety that it caused within her. He saw fear, embarrassment—almost the same way Shiro looked when he mentioned Allura. Either way, he made his way down and returned the ladder into the garage, checking off the last item from off of what seemed to be a shorter list every day. He came into the house and smiled, picking up Luna and kissing her cheek lovingly, Luna squealing and laughing as she held his jawline in her little hand. Pidge laughed.

“Hey—you’re giving away my kisses!” She tickled Luna, the little girl giggling. After they shared a laugh, Pidge laid back in her seat. “I didn’t realize you and Luna were close.”

“Oh, what? Yeah me and Luna are best pals. You love me right, Luna?”

Luna gazed up at him, her big eyes matching her toothy grin.

Pidge smiled at him. “If I’m not careful, you might run me out of the job.”

“Don’t count on it. I do so many things during the day, I would barely have enough time to make sure she didn’t make a mess. And plus, you do a great job enough. I couldn’t compare.”

“I don’t know, Mr. Shiro sure is impressed with you.” He could feel the butterflies as they spoke.

“He is?”

“Oh yeah. Big time. I am too. Most guys are lousy at taking care of babies. But not you, and definitely not Mr. Shiro. It’s a shame really, how Allura has left.”

“Yeah. He seems to really miss her.”

“Of course, she’s the mother of his child. It can be taxing to raise a kid alone. I know they weren’t married, but either way—”

“They weren’t married?”

Pidge shrugged her shoulders, rolling her eyes. “Not from what I heard. But of course, that’s just more gossip between the teachers.”

“I see.” Keith tried to make himself not seem interested. Pidge leaned in close. “They say that she was covering up for him.”

“Cover up for him? Cover up what?” He tried to keep the color within his cheeks.

“Duh, him being _gay_.” She said it as if it were some dirty word. She averted her attention to the baby, before looking back up at Keith.

“That doesn’t make sense. Even _if_ he was gay, why would Allura have a kid with him just to cover up a secret? There are less extreme ways”

Pidge shrugged once more. “Again, this is all just gossip. I wouldn’t think about it twice.”

 

 

That night, Keith let him get lost in Shiro’s narrative. They had set the table, fed Luna and left her to her teething ring, and began to pile angel hair onto their plates as Shiro began his story. He took a swig of his beer, sucking sauce off his thumb before rubbing his hands together and clearing his throat.

“I was in detention mostly every day. Me and your father. Now, for the most part, I was a good student. Got okay grades, was active in sports, a few clubs—it was only your father that brought the wild child out of me. He would never admit to that, but he did. Together, we’d cut class to smoke on the bleachers. We’d leave school early for beers in his dad’s basements. We’d challenge other guys in our grade to races in the Garrison junkyard. I was never like that when I was by myself, or with anyone else…”

His eyes were intense; youthful.  His hands were as energetic as the story, and for the first time since Keith’s first day, he realized that Shiro looked better. Well, don’t get him wrong. He always thought the father was handsome to have lost sleep, but he remembered the sunken eyes. How puffy they were, how much he had looked to be miserable. At this moment at least…it was all gone. There was something fascinating to hear about how life was before Luna, or even Keith came. To hear about them in youth, in action. He made sure to keep his eyes fixed on Shiro’s.

“Anyways, it was Lotor, your dad and I in his old red 60s’ Cadillac. He thought he was the shit then, so he would walk around town with this red leather jacket to match and one day, Thomas Gallagher challenged him to a race around the junkyard—this was what made the Garrison junkyard the spot to be. No one cool cared about hanging around in a junkyard until they heard this story.”

“Lotor? Lotor was there?”

“Yeah, Lotor was a childhood friend of mines. He was a year older than me though, so he hung with me and your dad whenever he was back home from school. See, Lotor was a lot more mature than us boys—he didn’t want to sit in the front seat with Akira just in case something were to have happened. So it was me and your father….”

Keith noticed Shiro’s muscles relaxing as he sat back, how the nostalgia had taken over his body. “Tommy started shouting at your father—calling him names. We started shouting back, and before you know it we were treading dirt and making clouds around the junkyard.”

“Who won?”

“It depends on who you ask—the cars were both so close. We know, that, of course, your father won. Tommy and his friends knew that they one, but if you had asked Ol’ Man Harris, he would’ve said it was a draw and his junkyard, his rules—so.” Shiro shrugged, sucking his teeth and clearing his throat.

“Either way—the victory in that was that no one has even come close when they raced Tommy. Not even the preps with the latest model Cadillac, no matter how shiny, how pretty, how new—Tommy won every single time. Everyone started to question his street cred after that. The junkyard became this hangout spot where all the kids came after school. There were so many kids Ol’ Man Harris started to charge $1 admission—it was enough to pay off his loans that year.

“That’s amazing. He never told me stories like that.”

“Oh yeah—he was a champ back in the day. He became a hardass after college.” Shiro’s laugh was short. He lifted the beer bottle to his lips before realizing aloud,” We all did.”

“Even Lotor?”

“Well, to be fair he was always a hardass.” Shiro smiled to himself mischievously. “Do your friends ever do stuff like that anymore? Is it still “hip”?”

“I wouldn’t know.” Keith smiled. “I just like to play baseball.” 

“And break windows.” Shiro teased, pushing Keith with a loving, gentle embrace. “Slide me your plate, kiddo.”

Shiro walked into the kitchen, washing the plates before taking Luna upstairs. Before he said goodnight, he looked back and said,” I like our conversations, Keith.”

 

 

 

The next night, Shiro spent a few minutes on the phone before sitting down at the dinner table. “Yeah, that’s no problem—it’s pretty bad out there tonight, I wouldn’t want him getting hurt or anything…. I totally understand…”

 

Keith had been setting the table. He had already fed Luna her mash potatoes and peas—already had not only given Luna her teething ring but had tucked her into bed. Tonight, on the menu was homemade pizza. The thunder had seemed to only grow louder, hungrier—with the shower of rain in the background—it was beautiful, striking.

Shiro hung up the phone with an ‘I love you.’ He turned around to Keith and smiled. “Hey, kiddo—your dad called. The storm might be getting worse tonight, so he asked if you could spend the night.”

Keith’s heart sank deep inside of him.

“Would that be alright with you? I could drive you home if you want—”

“No, no it’s fine. I wouldn’t want to have to wake up Luna.”

“Okay, great. So umm…I’ll go clean out the guest room if you wanna finish setting the table and I’ll meet you back down in a second.”

 

Keith didn’t know whether to thank his father or the Lord for some divine intervention but either way, he wanted to make sure he hid his face for sure, he could feel himself beginning to blush. He sighed, continuing to set the table when suddenly…

 _Goddamn storm…._ he found himself within the dark. He set down the plate slowly, making sure to be careful as he walked towards the stairs.  “Uhh…. Mr. Shiro?”

He heard footsteps coming closer to the top of the stairs. “Keith,” There was a soft whisper. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah…” He made himself whisper.

“I was going to turn on the generator, but just in case if the storm wakes Luna I don’t want her to be alone. Could you come up and watch her for me while I go find my shoes?”

“Would…you like me to turn on the generator? I’m already downstairs and have my shoes on?”

“Are you sure? I have no problem getting it.”

“Yeah, it’s better I go. Luna might need you.”

“Okay, well it’s the big green button on the right side of the door facing the neighbor’s house near the fence. hen doors onto the patio. If it hadn’t been raining so hard, it would have been therapeutic. The rain was cold, but summer made the evening humid. He was wet within a matter of seconds, his hair stuck to his face. He slicked his hair back walking through the marsh which the backyard had become. Before he could make it to the generator, he had been completely soaked. He smiled faintly at the lights coming back on in the house.

                             Being out in the humidity made him forget how cool it had been in the house. Goosebumps spread immediately, his hands involuntarily covering his chest and arms. It had been just in time for Shiro to see him, looking pathetic, beginning to shiver in the house. Shiro laughed shortly, his smile wide. He had been carrying a towel twice the length of his own arms. “I came just in time, right?”

                             “Yeah…” Keith shivered walking towards the man, melting in the feel of the warm embrace. Shiro first began to work the towel over Keith’s hair, gently wiping the water away from his face and neck, playing through his hair and squeezing the water from his tips.

                             “I left you some clothes in the bathroom; we can eat after you take a shower, so you don’t get sick.”

                             Keith froze completely; letting himself jerk and toss within the towel before going upstairs.

 

Dinner was quiet—tense. There were no stories tonight—no out of this world adventures between the young Shiro Takashi and Akira Kogane. No mention of Lotor; nothing at all. Just silence, and the ambience of the storm in its hungry wake. In a way, Luna was a mediator. She was the barrier between what the afternoon could have turned into, but with her asleep, there was not much else to become distracted with. Keith almost lost himself within the scrapes of forks against the plates, the chiming of knives and forks as they cut into the buttered meat and rosemary red potatoes.

“Mr. Shiro?”

Shiro seemed…distracted. Sad, scared… His eyebrow stayed furrowed as he zoned out into his food, his mouth twitching in thought. Something was troubling him. He pulled at the collar of his shirt and sighed before he had heard Keith calling his name.

“Mr. Shiro—”

His energy was automatic; his smile almost unnaturally there. “What’s up, kiddo?”

 _I don’t know what I’m doing…_ Keith’s breath was shallow, mouth dry—but he couldn’t stop himself from forming the words in his mouth. The waiting had been insufferable and at this point, the plan had been less than successful. He found that he had frozen, leaving Shiro to stare patiently.

“Yes, Keith?”

“Uh, sorry—nevermind.”

“Is something bothering you? Someone?”

“No, er…it’s nothing. I apologize.”

There was a pause. A brief moment of silence. Shiro then took a swig of his wine and turned to Keith. He braced himself, rubbing his palms down the shaft of his thighs, licking his lips. 

“Keith, I want you to know that if there’s ever something that is troubling you, you can express so. And I won’t tell anyone. What we talk about is between us and only us, not even your dad will know.” Keith’s eyes met his. “I promise.”

Shiro leaned in a little closer, Keith’s heart beginning to skip a beat. He could smell his cologne, the sweet smell of fruit, the oaky heavy scent with a citrus finish. It filled his nose like cigar smoke flowing in the air. For once he could see the passion in Shiro’s eyes. He felt Shiro’s hand rubbing through the back of his hair—loving, patient. It calmed him, made him more confident.

“Mr. Shiro… _when_ was the first time you…had sex?” Keith choked out the words. Shiro blew out a breath, clearing his throat. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. Y-You don’t have to answer that question if you want to…”

“No, no---it’s, well…. uh, did Akira not talk about this with you?”

“Are you kidding?”

Shiro laughed shortly. He was nervous, yes, but he kept his posture. That living demeanor being a father had instilled in him. He shook his head,” Yeah…yeah, I don’t know why I asked. Well, let’s see…”

Shiro was patient with his words; careful. As if walking on thin ice. But at least now, he wasn’t stiff—concerned. His brows had relaxed, his hands had come to a still. “I was two years older than you are now—I was 19; in my second year of college. That’s when Allura and I had really started to pay attention to each other and see past being friends—”

“—That’s not what I mean.”

There was another pause.

Keith cleaned it up,” I appreciate that. But…when was the first time you had sex with a guy?” Keith took a sip of his soda. Shiro at this point paused, his eyes narrowing at Keith. Keith let out a breath, letting a hand run through it. When Shiro remained, Keith continued.

“The night you went out to eat with my dad and his friends…I called you for diapers. I couldn’t find them—and when I went to look in the closet like you told me to, I found…”

Shiro ran a hand down his jaw. Keith began to let himself go.

“And th-there’s nothing wrong with that. At all…I, I haven’t told anyone. Because I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it but people don’t make it a comfortable thing to talk about and I...” Keith began to tremble. “A-And I mean, I only asked because I… I think I…”

He became frustrated with himself. “I don’t know how to process it. I’ve never been gay before, but I..”

There was another silence, Shiro still with his hand over his mouth, eyes averted from outside the window. Keith succumbed to the silence, retreating to his food. He played with his cut of meat before placing it into his mouth.  Another moment went by before Shiro spoke.

 

His tone became deeper, sweeter…lower. “ _16_ …”

 

Keith looked up to see Shiro. His mouth was stern, his eyes low. Sad. “I was sixteen; and it was my birthday.”

“With Lotor?”

Shiro shook his head. “We hadn’t spoken for two weeks straight.”

“Why?”

“He told me that I was pretending to be something I wasn’t; that I needed to be honest with myself and I was never going to be unless I started to own up to who I was and what I liked…I was so angry with him. To be such a hardass, he was so negligent. It was 1968—Martin Luther King had just been killed, people were being tortured—harassed if they were rumored gay. Who in the _hell_ would have been open about that?”

“You were scared…”

“A guy in our grade—Reggie Brooks, had a black eye from some kid giving him a swirlie. And Lotor wanted us to date? It was…was too risky…But when he came to my birthday party, we couldn’t help ourselves. I blew out the candles, we all had cake, and then he took me by the hand and we had sex right before it was time to say goodbye to the guests.”

“Is that when you knew you were gay?”

“I had always known; there was a feeling that something was off. I didn’t feel the same way Akira did when we stole his dad's magazines.” The two laughed for a moment before Shiro’s smile melted. “I guess I never really owned up to it. He was right.”

“What happened to him?”

“He transferred schools in college; never heard from him again. So…who’s the lucky guy?”

Keith’s cheeks became flushed. “Hmm?”

“You weren’t asking because you had sex?”

Keith shook his head sheepishly; the cold beginning to wash over him, his stomach turning.

Shiro only stared before the thoughts began to connect; his eyebrows had furrowed once again, his eyes horrific, his teeth sinking deep into his lower lip. _Fuck…_

 _“_ Keith…. _Keith_ , no…Keith, I’m Akira’s best friend. I’m your father’s best friend. I…I’m your dad’s age.”

 Keith’s looked down into his plate, his eyes beginning to water. _Fuck, please…please don’t._ His tears began to form, Keith, breathing in deeply.

“I’ve tried---I’ve tried Mr. Shiro, I’ve tried to shake it off. I’m trying now; I can’t—I…”

“Oh shit, Keith.” Shiro breathed. “We can’t…we can’t do this.” Shiro said finally. He took Keith’s hand, squeezing it into his own. “I’ve had those thoughts too. I have, but there just…thoughts. Invasive thoughts—and we must ignore them. Do you understand?”

Keith shook his head, feeling Shiro’s hand through his hair. That touch wasn’t working. Keith didn’t feel so reassured.

“Keith, you’re 17. If I did this…you know what that would make me? And the harassment, the bullying if anyone ever found out…Keith, you’re not ready for this. And I wouldn’t wish it upon you. Do you understand?”

 

 

Keith felt empty. He nodded simply, he cleaned his plate and excused himself in a whisper—and that had been the end of their night.

 

Now there was only the sound of the rain; the thunder, the lightning that came with a rhythm. He tried to wipe the tears and stop them from coming, but the more he did so, the more they came, and the more he had lost the battle. _Why did I do that?_

 

He couldn’t breathe, taking a deep breath into the pillow, holding his stomach to not let himself be too loud. It wasn’t like Shiro was wrong, he was exactly right. There would be no way of coming out about this. What would his father say? What would his father think of him? Of Shiro? What would that mean for their friendship?  All those years, in vain….

And Keith could only imagine his talk—but how would he communicate this to his best friend? That he lusted over his son and wanted to date the same boy he used to see when the two were younger? Not to mention the kids at school. Kids tortured her because of her affair with her brother—and that was just a rumor. A stupid one at that. What would they do if they ever found out about Keith?

 

But it just hurt, so bad. To have fantasized; to have made himself think that he could have been Shiro’s. To think that they could defy odds and conquer all of time was something Keith should’ve known better. And yet, Keith couldn’t remember a more painful memory. He let his hands pull the ends of his hair away from his face. This just all felt so unreal….

 

“ _Keith_ ….”

 

Keith froze with what he saw before him. Shiro stood in the doorway, his arms braced against the frame—his eyes intense, his look stern. Keith sat up from his bed, still frozen—still hurting. He couldn’t have moved if he had wanted, goosebumps trailing down his back. Shiro came closer, his footsteps and silent across the floor.

Keith felt the urge to meet him halfway. He forced himself from off the bed, his eyes watching Shiro, his muscles tensing. _Is this real?_

Shiro’s hands shook, but he reached for Keith with a loving embrace anyways. He held the boy in his hands for a moment, his eyebrows furrowing as he looked at Keith with a twinkle in his glance.

Keith felt himself stop breathing as Shiro lifted his face to his. He was hesitant, but their lips came together finally, Shiro’s grasps strengthening as he deepened the kiss. Keith could feel the warmth of his full embrace. The softness of his lips pressing deep into his, Shiro’s frame growing over the cold of Keith’s skin. Keith let his body lean into Shiro, Shiro’s hand wrapping tightly around Keith’s waist. The tears still ran down Keith’s face…. but that pain was melting, turning into a passion, into blind faith.

He didn’t know what he was supposed to do, or if he should have done anything at all. He didn’t know if this was a dream, and he would wake up. Or if this was a certain heat of the moment. What Shiro wanted, if it would be more than this, if it was for more than just a night, but…it felt right. It felt righter than anything Keith ever felt. It felt righter and more real. Shiro pressed Keith into him. He could feel Shiro’s nervousness through the shaking of his hold, the pressure of his kiss, the uncertainty with the shivers, the shudder that came from Shiro’s mouth. What was this supposed to be?

Keith began to kiss back, his mouth parting more for Shiro’s lips, their passion colliding, stabling. Keith let his hands get lost in Shiro’s hair, Shiro beginning to walk them back against the bedroom door. They stayed there for a moment, Shiro’s hands beginning to wander, his touch electrifying. Keith urged him for more, holding him at his elbows and guiding his hands deep within his shirt, shutting his eyes tight as he felt the older man’s caress. Shiro nudged his head to the side, beginning to kiss his ear and neck, Keith feeling himself becoming hard against Shiro’s leg, his body tensing at the feel if his tongue, his mouth, his nibble. Shiro stopping was sudden. _Please, no…keep going._

“We need more time…” Shiro whispered, his voice pained, but stern. “If you want to learn, I want you to learn properly. Not just the sensations…but so much more. You understand?”

Keith looked at Shiro, nodding compliantly. “Yes…Mr. Sh—”

“—No. Takashi. When we’re like this, call me…Takashi.”

“Okay, Takashi.” His heart jumped. He felt Shiro’s kiss one last time.

“I’m sorry Keith. If I loved you the way I should be loving you, I wouldn’t be doing this. But I don’t—my love is selfish. I want you in more ways than I can explain or justify. Goodnight”

He brought Keith from the door, before slithering away into the night. Keith couldn’t help but smile to himself. He wiped his last tear, letting the moment process in his head.  _This is real…_

 

_This is real…._

Shiro stared up at the ceiling, his breath shallow—his eyes fixed. _I’ve just kissed my best friend’s son._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys indeed did enjoy. SO funny story, I planned all of the plot out before writing it, and I didn't realize how much time and work it would take to do so, BUT I'm committing myself to finish it all, because Jesus H, I never finish ANYTHING I write and I'm working on a resolution to write more. 
> 
> But we are far from finished, we have so much more to cover. Thank you guys once again!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you guys! 
> 
> I posted something earlier on today, explaining my situation with this story ha. I'm currently conflicted where I want things to go if it's too long of a story or anything like that, but thank you guys REGARDLESS! REGARDLESS! PERIOD! For the love, the support, the kudos, the comments, I love it! Thank you! 
> 
> Let me know what you're thinking! And Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

_This is real…._

Shiro stared up at the ceiling, his breath shallow—his eyes fixed. _I’ve just kissed my best friend’s son._

The words stung deeply; it broke his heart, and yet, it liberated him.

                       In his sleep, even the morning after, Keith could smell the distant cologne; how it lingered on him and reminded him of the night before. Mesmerizing, terrifying, unreal. What would it be to see him for the first time afterward this morning? What would happen from there? Something almost told him to not get up. But the flashing red 12:15 PM made Keith sit upright abruptly. He stared at the clock before hearing Luna’s distant cooing, and Shiro’s voice.

                       “Good morning sleepy head…” he heard in the distance, his voice was fulfilling. Smooth like Keith’s personally melody. Luna responded in only the way Luna could half-asleep, with a short yet loving grunt. Keith began to move from out of the bed, his heart beginning to pound in his chest. As he made his way past the door and into the hallway, he could see Shiro rocking Luna in the door frame. When he had his eyes on him, it’s like the fire of those last moments sparked back into his body all over again. Shiro glanced for a moment, then let his smile spread softly, raising Luna’s little hand to wave.

                       Keith smiled and waved shortly back.

                       “Let’s go bug Keith, Luna…”

                       Keith automatically opened his arms to the little girl, Luna wrapping her arms around Keith’s neck and placing her head, beginning to drift again. He cradled her, looking into the eyes of her mother.

                        “Good morning Luna….”

                       She babbled something before letting herself drift some more. Shiro walked towards Keith, planting one kiss on his forehead and the other on his lips, goosebumps across his skin. Shiro smiled some more, before placing his hand on Keith’s cheek. “You’re ever uncomfortable, you tell me okay? I won’t do anything you don’t want me to.”

                       That made Keith smile—is this heaven? But he replied,” I’ll definitely tell you if I do.”

                       “Good. C’mon champ, I’m starving.”

                       Luna sat in her high chair, a blanket covering her body as she laid cheek pressed to her counter. Keith had set the table, as always, but made sure to lend a hand in the kitchen as well. Shiro was showing him how to make crème brulee French toast. Keith could never be happier—he beat the heavy cream into the eggs the way Shiro had asked him to, Shiro gradually adding cinnamon and sugar to the mixture from behind him, one hand on his hip, and the other on the counter.

                       “That’s good…. did you already butter the skillet? Because once we do, we’ll—”

The phone interrupted them. Shiro patted Keith’s shoulder before going to the phone.

                       “Hey, Chief!” He hid his worry well. “Were you okay in the storm last night?

                       The color started to return back to his face as the two men talked,

                       “Yeah, we were okay last night, Luna was a little scared, but it didn’t stop---oh yeah, Keith’s fine! You want me to put him on the phone?” He laughed. “Okay, Chief. One second.”

                       Keith took the phone, Shiro taking over the toast.

                       “Hey, Dad,”

                       “Hey pup; when were you going to come home?”

                       “I was thinking directly after doing chores today.”

                       “Right, because you know that scholarship application for Garrison is due in about a week…”

                       The conversation seemed to drag on, endless. But he finally was able to hang up with a brief ‘I love you’ before returning to what seemed could have only been fantasy. He loved eating with Shiro, he loved their conversations, the amount of energy that manifested when they were together. Shiro wiped a bit of syrup from Keith’s chin as he spoke.

                       “I never really expected to fall in love with Lotor…”

                       “But you did?”

                       “Right.”

                       “How did you know how that felt like?”

                       Shiro leaned on his other hand, forking some food before smiling to himself.

                       “It felt like…I wanted to know how he was all the time. And not in a worried way—but almost in a fascination. I wanted if he had a good day, if he ate if not was he hungry, how he was feeling, was classes beating him down—anything. Just to make sure that there wasn’t anything I could do to make it feel better. It felt like I was obsessed or something. Admittedly.”

                       The two laughed, Keith taking another bite from his food., Shiro continuing.

                       “But you know what?”

                       “Hmm?”

                       “I had never told him anything until middle school. And then, even still, we didn’t talk about it until high school. You have to remember, this was the sixties, before the riots. Before then, there was this barrier. With everything. Even talking about it or joking about it could have had consequences. He was never scared though—it never terrified him in the same way it did me to think that we could actually die being ourselves.”

                       “But eventually in college, as there started to be safer havens, we experimented, to feel whether things were still the same.”                 

                       Keith shook his head in disbelief. “This is all so new to me.”

                       “It’s subjective on each person. Some people won’t know—some people never do. Some people never act upon what they fantasize about. It’s just how things are.”

                       Shiro placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “There’s no time frame, or deadline as to where you need to decide. Nor is there a way to act gay, or sound or talk. It’s just a matter of what you decide you like and what type of person you want to be.”

                       “So, you found out about those things with Lotor?”

                       “With him, with myself—him with me. Is was just a matter of growing with someone. These things take time.”

                       “And how did Luna get into the picture? Did Allura—”

                       “—I’ll tell you all that there is to know.”

                       Shiro smiled. “But for now, you have to head back.”

                       “About chores...? “ 

                       “Keith, there’s nothing else to do around this house but to make it dirty.” The two laughed, Shiro, playing with Keith’s hair /.

                       “How about you just come over from now on? If you like? I told your father I felt weird about having you clean around the house as if I couldn’t do it myself anyway. Just come back tomorrow, hang out with Pidge, watch TV, sleep—I don’t care. Just no more chores.”

“Thanks, Mr.—Takashi, thanks Takashi.” Keith corrected himself smiling before putting his plate in the sink, giving Luna’s head a kiss and walking from out of the door.

 

The next morning Keith returned Luna and Pidge in front of Dynasty again. Luna’s eyes remained on the TV as Pidge seemed aghast, legs folded underneath her as she watched Keith.

“No more chores?”

Keith laid out beside her, his feet up on the coffee table.

“Nope. Just being here.”

“And you sure it wasn’t a test?”

“Do you think it was a test?”

“No, just…. wow. That’s really nice. So, what do you plan on doing now?”

“I don’t know, just hanging about I guess. I actually really like being here.”

Pidge smiled. “Me too.”

“I’ll still help out with Luna though if you’d like?”

Pidge snorted. “Help? I go home every day and babysit my older brother Matt. Trust me, I’m fine.”

The two laughed. Keith smiled a bit. “Okay.”

“Is everything alright?”

“Yeah.” Keith laughed. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“There’s just something different about you.”

“Really? Good or bad?”

“I don’t know….” Pidge examined him. “I like it.”

“Thanks…”

The two sat in silence for a while. Keith wanted to ask; shaking his head as he pondered. After a while, he cleared his throat.

“Pidge?”

“Yeah.” She looked from the TV and Luna to Keith.

“You still think there’s nothing wrong to being gay, right?”

“Yeah…. of course.”

“When that rumor, uh, you know…the one from sophomore year?”

Pidge’s eyebrow furrowed.

“Yeah…”

“When that happened, did anyone ever treat you differently?”

“No one that mattered. Why—”

The two sniffed the air, Pidge looking at Luna. She giggled, clapping her little hands as she looked back to see them, Pidge getting up to change her diaper. As the three went upstairs, the conversation continued.

“Word in the teacher’s lounge has some juicy stuff.”

“Really? You actually believe it?”

“I don’t know….” Pidge continued, Luna, kicking her legs in excitement. “Some of it honestly doesn’t sound too true. But…” She began to get lost in her own thoughts. “Keith, why did you ask me about that?”

He tensed. “Well, if Shiro really is gay, what could happen to Luna?” _What could happen to him?_

Pidge shrugged.” Well, I imagine, if he really was, no one would ever be able to guess. But I don’t want to think about that. Are you sure you’re doing okay?”

Keith couldn’t lie well, but he tried his best regardless. “Yeah, yes. Yes. I’m doing fine. I’m sorry to open healed wounds...”

“No, it’s fine. I mean—after all, it was just a rumor. Only an idiot would believe I actually slept with my brother.”

“Yeah.”

Pidge’s smile lasted but two seconds. “Regardless, I wouldn’t worry too much about Mr. Shiro. If he is, which only the teachers think, then who would find out? Besides—you have to remember that the teachers are all alumni. They’re going to hold on to what they were raised on when they were our age.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“You’re really concerned for him, aren’t you?”

“Yeah… I mean, more of Luna than him, but even still.”

Pidge turned to the gurgling baby and tickled her sides. “Luna’s alright isn’t she Luna-Moona!?”

Luna shrieked with newfound energy. Keith watched her.

 

 

Keith couldn’t help but think; things were bound to change, weren’t they? He was sure of it, but whether it was for the best or the worst, he could barely say. But he played with his peas. He swirled them into his mashed potatoes, and then his gravy, and glazed the teeth of his fork over the brisk until he mesmerized himself with the turn of the fork. Keith managed to have caught Shiro’s attention, feeling a hand through Keith’s hair.

“You okay, Keith?”

“Yeah.”

“Come on, champ. You’ve been quiet all night. You can talk to me.” Shiro took his hands. “Are you having second thoughts?”

“No, no,” Keith reassured. “It’s just, Lotor seemed to have it all under control. All figured out—every detail, every idea. But—”

“—It’s different. Lotor bases everything off of logic, off of theory. You can’t use theory and logic when it comes to human emotion. You just can’t. Trust me, I used to think the same thing.”

“Yet, I’m envious of him. He…”

“He seemed to have it all figured out.”

“And he knew exactly what he wanted. And how to ask for it. It seems like it, anyway…”

“No, you hit the nail right on the head, Champ.”

“I don’t even know how to begin asking for what I want. I barely know exactly what I want.”

“Well, what did you want Keith?”

He chose his words carefully; not that he really needed to. Just that he hated sounding dumb. “You said before that Lotor taught you a lot about yourself. About what you liked, about what you felt”

“Yes?”

“Can you teach me?”

“When?”

“Now.” He hadn’t meant to sound so eager, but now that he did, his face had become as flushed as the dining hall walls. Shiro smiled softly. He took Keith’s hand into his own, moving his bangs from out of his face and planting a kiss, long and sweet-natured. From the pressure alone, Keith felt wanted. He felt loved. Shiro broke the kiss, leaning into Keith’s ear. “Do you like that?”

Keith smiled shortly, still slightly embarrassed. “Yeah.”

“How about…”

His whisper was honeyed; trickling down Keith’s neck and leaving him in shudders before making of a trail of kisses from his mouth, through his jaw, down his neck, and towards his neck. Keith managed to keep his moan inside his throat as he felt Shiro’s tongue. At first, soft and with soft-kissed finished. But as he continued, Keith could feel his tongue becoming harder, harder until he could feel himself beginning to stir and throb, his grasp on Shiro growing tighter as he continued. When Shiro broke the kiss once more, Keith whimpered.

“Please, don’t stop…”

Shiro became flushed himself, laughing to himself as he rested his forehead on Keith’s.

“Keith, you make it so hard for me. You don’t understand…I don’t want you to waste your youth on me…”

He held Keith’s cheek and sighed,” I want you to find someone your age. To experiment with, to grow with. I want you to find your own Lotor—”

Keith held Shiro’s jaw as he leaned into him, kissing him with as much might as he could muster in his body, holding the older man by his shirt. Shiro’s moans were subtle, shallow, but only was an incentive for Keith to keep going. He kissed Shiro until the breath had left his chest and escaped into Shiro.

“…. Did you…did you like that?” Keith breathed. He had mocked Shiro, the two left in silence until Shiro got up from his seat. He seemed lost, out of breath, having to lean against the table. He ran a hand over his mouth for a brief moment, his eyes still on Keith. Finally, Shiro managed to find his words.

“Stand up.”

Keith had to register the words before he did, but when he was able to, his knees felt weak. He watched as Shiro came towards him, taking his hair into his hand and beginning to kiss him, matching the same strength as before. They backed into a wall, Shiro with his hands on Keith’s jaw and neck. Keith found his hands on Shiro’s chest, beginning to massage him. He took Keith into his arms, picking him up and leaning all of his body weight into him, Keith feeling the bulge of Shiro’s pants against his bottom. He shivered as they continued to kiss. He remembered that when his girlfriend and he used to kiss, she would roll her hips into his, and so that’s what he did to Takashi. Bliss was an understatement; his whole body felt as if it were in shock, constantly tickling. Constant cool waves washing over his skin, competing against rushes of heat. He felt numb, and yet he could feel every nerve and the sensitivity of all of them. He wanted this, he liked this. He wanted more.

Shiro, in one swoop, took him from off of the wall, swiping the dinner from the nearest corner of the table, laying Keith down and beginning to help himself to his neck, holding Keith’s hips in place as he ground against them. This could make Keith come alone, the feeling of Shiro’s member pressing into him. He could only imagine how good it must’ve felt to have him inside. He wondered why Allura left; why she would want to leave this feeling. Keith looked down to see that pre-come had already made its spot on his pants, his own dick swollen. He could see the girth of Shiro’s through his sweatpants. He could see the swollen base, and how it evened out a couple of inches to make the shift and with a smaller, yet thick enough tip.

Shiro nearly gave Keith a heart attack, “May I go further, Keith?”

He nearly screamed the answer,” Oh, God. Please…” He couldn’t imagine it, but he heard himself asking, no, _begging_ for more. Shiro smiled simply before taking Keith by the hand. Keith hadn’t been prepared for what came next, but he waited with enough anticipation to make his chest explode. Shiro held his hand close to Keith’s mouth.

“Spit.”

“Huh?”

“Spit. As much as you can, into my hand. Like a spit handshake.”

Keith did what he was told, the two exchanging small smiles. Shiro glanced at his hand once. “More.”

Keith began to laugh, now beginning to understand.

“C’mon; I know you got a loogie in you.”

Keith delivered as promised, laughing at Shiro’s energy. It was as if he had been 18 all over again himself. He smiled a satisfied smirk at his hand and took his free hand and placed it on Keith’s shoulder.

“May I?” He gestured down to Keith’s erection.

“Yes.”

In a moment, the cute smile he wore began to fade, Keith’s eyebrows furrowing as he watched Shiro’s hand. He focused on his tip, then went down to his shaft, his legs beginning to jerk. Shiro had centered his focus on his technique, holding Keith by his hair in a firm but gentle grasp. Keith tried to hold his moan, but the more Shiro stroked, the more they began to release from out of him. Before he knew it, Keith could feel the rush of his orgasm, his come hitting below his belly button as he came into Shiro’s hand.

“That’s a good boy, Keith. You’re doing great, champ. Just keep going.”

It grew more and more sensitive the more Shiro continued, Keith beginning to feel his entire pulse from the pressure. He began to come some more. It felt as if he was going to burst. He came again, Shiro smiling a wide smile as he came to a stop. Keith laughed, trying to catch his breath as he laid back on the couch.

“Did you like that?” He teased, licking the come from off of his fingers and hand. “I’ll be right back, champ.”

 

They laid, Keith in Shiro's arms, their legs tangled in sheets.

“Promise me you’ll find someone, Keith. Someone not like me, someone your age.”

“There’s not that many gay guys my age, Takashi.”

“You never know until you ask around.”

They had been cuddling in Shiro’s bed, hands interlocked. Keith felt Shiro’s warmth all around him, loving the feeling of being engulfed in his body heat—the certainty that came with it. The security. He laughed.

“Should I put a poster up?”

“I’m just saying. You need to experience life. Once you get my age, with kids and bills, it’s not the same. You want to be able to reflect and be proud. You’re not so hungry for a different type of life. Promise me: please?”

He turned Keith to see him. “That’s all that I ask.”

Keith sighed,” Yes, sir. I promise.”

“Thank you. It’s getting late. Did you want me to call Akira?”

“Nah, he’s waiting for me to finish one of my scholarship essays.”

“Well, I guess that means we’ll have to pick up where we left off tomorrow, champ.”

They kissed. “Goodnight, Keith.”

“Goodnight, Shiro…I mean—”

“—No, Shiro’s fine. Don’t worry” Keith loved his smile.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed! Happy Winter Breaking, Happy Working if you're working, Happy New Semester if you're starting it, Happy New YEAR!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! For those in school, Welcome back! Have a great semester! I'm going to be finishing this up. It's been fun to actually commit to it and to actually find a place where I was comfortable ending it. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing!

This would have had to eventually end…. right?

 

 

                       Keith looked up into the ceiling, eyes in a haze, the previous moments from last night still reigning over his body. He throbbed, he felt Shiro’s lips as if he were still there, his hands melting into fists, turning the sheets within his hands. Perhaps it was his age showing, maybe it was just him being naïve, or him not realizing that all things, good or bad, must come to an end—but he felt that he could do it. He felt deep within himself that he could have been a great father, a great understanding one—more understanding than his one. He could find work, he could provide for Luna. And as she grew, help her to understand the dynamic of their relationship. That Allura, wherever she had gone or whatever she put first, loved her regardless. But that he was there, he had been there and always would’ve been there. But that could have just been his age, and that could have been the wildest of his dreams. It was simple—”

“Hey pup,” Akira came into the room, looking down at his son. “You’re okay, Keith?”

Keith shot up from his spot there on the bed, trying to ignore the throbbing. “Yeah…what’s up dad?”

Akira sat down next to his son. “Sorry, I forgot to knock—but I just got so—”

“It’s okay, Dad.”

His dad looked at him again, moving some of the hair from out of his face. “You’re sure you’re okay, pup?”

“Yeah, dad.”

“You look nervous. Did you have one of your nightmares again?”

Keith felt his own face in response. “I had a weird dream, I guess. I can’t remember it.”

Akira patted his shoulder. “Well, I’ll get you some Advil in a second. Look what I found today…”

He nearly shoved the packet into his son’s hands. It was from Arizona State—one of their prospective student packages, with diverse smiles on the cover and through the pages. He smiled to himself, an underlining fear in his stomach. Keith couldn’t have asked for a better father, but…

“I was looking through…they have that new military program you were talking about.” Akira, caught within his own excitement, snatched the book back, turning to the exact page.

“Boom, here pup.” He placed one hand into the back of his jeans, waiting for his son’s approval. He could see where his father used to be a troublemaker. Though he told his son of the crazy tales of his youth, he hadn’t gone into specific detail. But Keith could see it from his laugh lines, the way his father’s eyebrows furrowed. He was a troublemaker of his time.

“This is great...”

“And Keith—”

He pointed a finger to one of the pages. “They’re one of the only two schools to teach a mixture of military tactics and astrophysics within the same department. You could be learning aviation. And Garrison has added a policy where you’re not obligated to join if you change your mind afterward.”

He looked into the older, excited eyes. It was simple—it would have to eventually end. The thought of his father ever finding out about him and Shiro nearly emptied him then and there. The things he would do to him…The things he might’ve done to Shiro. His father was one of the most unpredictable people Keith had ever known. Like now.

Akira retracted, leaning back and relaxing his body and face. “Unless, you know, you wanted to explore other options. You have a couple, so…take your time.”

Keith let out a breath. “Thanks, Dad.”

Akira kissed his son’s forehead before getting up. Before he left, he snapped his fingers to himself.

“Oh, that’s right—Keith, did you know Shiro was in the same program?”

“He was?”

“We were in the same class. He would have retired with me, but Allura and he wanted to settle down…Anyways, he’s insisted that I let him pay for some of your books and supplies. Not to mention adding a letter of rec to Commander Iverson himself. You can’t beat that.”

“No, you can’t.” Keith’s eyes lit up. “Thanks, Dad.”

“I am so proud of you, Keith. You took this lesson and you learned from it. Now look—you don’t even have to clean anymore. You’re free to do—”

“—I think I’ll keep going over there.” Before Akira could ask, Keith confessed out the thing he knew his father wouldn’t question. “There this girl there….”

“Pidge.”

He looked up at his dad, Akira took his turn to answer before being asked.

“Shiro told me. Men talk too, y’know. So, what is she a….is a girlfriend?”

“What? No, dad—we just like hanging out.”

Akira’s expression was familiar, underlining. Knowing. “Don’t worry, pup, I won’t tell Mom, kay?”

He began to walk again, before stopping himself one last time. His facial expression changed as he stared at Keith. Keith’s stomach knotted up.

“W…What?”

“…. You’re not having sex, are you?”

“Dad!”

 

 

Today, the whole gang was there. The day was beautifully crafted; the sun was out, but the breeze was cold—a perfect contrast. It was hot enough for the girls to wear their swimsuits but cold enough as to where there they felt refreshed. Pidge and Luna were in their usual garb. A towel wrapped around their heads, shades, and streaks of sunscreen to match. If there had been a Vogue for teens…they sure would have been on the cover. Keith had been watching from afar, waiting for Shiro as he played with the football patiently. He hadn’t waited for long—Shiro stepped outside, a tray of homemade lemonade in three large glasses and a sippy cup in his hands. He took one look at the girls and nearly roared with laughter.

“Pidge, is this how you’ve been dressing my baby when I’m at work?”

They both replied, Shiro, smiling. “Well, here you go, Your Majesties. One for Queen Pidge, and another for Queen Luna Moon-a” He passed them their drinks. Keith nearly dropped the ball. Shiro in his own swim drunks, well endowed, glistened in the sun.

“One moment Keith.” He went back inside for a moment before returning outside with a radio. Not before long, it seemed like the front of an 80s family magazine. Everything had been perfect, the four playing with the water hose, the three laughing as Luna giggled hysterically. It had turned dark before any of them had thought to go home. Finally, Keith had taken Pidge home on his bike before returning to the house.

 

“Did you have fun today, champ?” Shiro cradled a sleeping Luna in his lap, a heavy blanket covering them. Her little mouth open, a light snore coming from the baby. The two noticed it.

“She didn’t get that from my side.” Shiro joked. Keith laughed, entering the living room with their dinner plates. He unbottled a Heineken for Shiro, placing it beside his plate and sitting down after getting his own root beer. Shiro made note of the way Keith looked at him.

“What?”

“You talked to my dad about paying for some of my books?”

He took a sip of his beer before swallowing and licking his lips. “Yeah. Yeah, I did. I would have done it anyways.”

Keith smiled, “Thank you…”

Keith didn’t really remember how they got to Shiro’s bed. He remembers tucking Luna in and leaving her door ajar. He remembers Shiro picking him up into his own arms, but now he was here, straddled onto of Shiro. Kissing him, his neck his chest. He could feel his breath, the pressure of his hands as he held his hips.

“Keith…” He breathed out, Keith mimicking what he had learned from his mentor. He kissed his chest, then his hips, down to the thickness of his thighs. He took Shiro’s hands, running them through his hair, guiding his fingers to become tangled within the own black locks of his hair. He looked up with pleading eyes. Please…please let me.

Shiro held his chin for a moment before nodding, Keith smiling lightly as his stomach began to twist. He knew exactly what he wanted to do. He knew that he wanted to make Shiro feel good, feel aflame. He wanted to fill him with the love that he had been filled with before. But he just didn’t know what to do. His insecurity began to show, his hands pausing with hesitation.

“You can…go ahead…” His hands held him lovingly there. “Only do as much as you’re comfortable with…” He breathed.

And so, Keith did; he could feel his heart racing, his hand sweating, quivering as he pulled Shiro out and made sure to look. Shiro reassured him,” Keith…. you don’t have to—”

“—No, please,” Keith spoke again in a more reassuring tone. I want to…”   


Shiro was a concoction of both pleading and guilt. Confusion and complete understanding of what this was. Keith could read it on his face; he knew exactly what this was…because he could begin to feel it too. It had almost felt like taking a swan dive into a pool, or that feeling of waiting for the pitcher to throw the ball—the fear of the unknown. The feeling of excitement mixed with confusion with hints of regret and nervousness. What would this lead to? Is this what Keith really wanted? Is this what Shiro wanted? What would people think of them if they ever found out?

In a moment like this, even at this exact moment, Keith couldn’t help but think about his father. Think about Shiro and his dynamic. It was one thing to be gay. It would be a completely different thing to be in a gay love affair with his best friend. Perhaps, what scared Keith the most was that his voice would be erased. He had a say so, here and now, with Shiro. He was listened to. He was understood and spoken to like an adult. Keith knew he wasn’t exactly an adult. However, he was mature and percipient enough of the situation to understand that no matter what anyone said, he couldn’t ask for a better mentor. For a better person to teach him about himself, and to (if not having all the answers miraculously) at least pointing him in the right direction of finding his own answers. That was something he was sure he couldn’t have found with anyone his own age. He was sure of it. It wasn’t the same—it could have never been the same. What feared him the most is that Shiro would be a monster. Shiro would be only to blame because of how old he was, and his understanding and societal expectations. Despite telling Keith, no, initially—and despite constantly wanting him to find someone his own age. Keith tried. Well, for as much as he could try being in Garrison. But that was no easy task—especially since all he could do was see himself with the older man.

Yes, it was a challenge, yes it was a risk—he understood what could have happened to him. What could have happened to Shiro. Yet, he wasn’t sure if that made this better or worse…

He wanted Shiro, this he was coming to terms with. Not in some lustrous, carnal way in which he craved him. It was something much more than that. It was something much more tender. He wanted to be the one he woke up besides in the mornings; he wanted to fix his breakfast, to fold his laundry, to clean and make him laugh and cry with pride and happiness, just like he had grown up seeing from his own parents. He couldn’t explain it. But he wanted Shiro in more ways than he knew that life would be kind enough to grant him. It felt weird sometimes though, that he found this to be in a person that was a little more than twice his age. He read that it didn’t really matter, but….

For Shiro, it mattered. It mattered a hell of a lot. He could tell constantly. If it wasn’t from there obvious after-sex conversations, it was from the trembling he felt when he kissed Keith. It was in the way he quivered as he held him in this exact moment. In his eyes—this wanting Keith to do it, this certain need for him to and yet, simultaneously praying that he didn’t. Perhaps he felt that he was what people were going to expect from him. Maybe, for Shiro, it wasn’t fearing what others thought. Maybe for him, it was fearing that he was exactly that thing. Trying to think about him, no 35-year-old man should have ever been thinking about a teenage boy this way, especially not his godson. Keith reached out, placing his palm on Shiro’s stomach.

“I want to …but do you want to, Shiro?” He was sure of this. His tone said so. Keith continued, “I know you’re scared. It makes sense now…”

Keith laughed shortly. “I would want nothing more…”

Finally, after a moment, after seeing a hint of this man begin to blossom up to his own thoughts, Shiro nodded. Keith smiled shortly before putting his tip in his mouth, goosebumps climbing over Shiro’s skin in one wave. He moaned out, his big hands tangling themselves in the sheets. Keith continued, slithering his hands from off Shiro’s shaft for a moment to guide Shiro’s hands up into his hair as he read in his mother’s Cosmopolitan magazines. He was careful to not be too eager, as the article explained, but meticulous enough to know that Keith was confident. That Keith wanted this; and that he craved Shiro’s pleasure more than anything. Shiro’s moan melted into a short laugh.

“God, champ—”

Keith smiled to himself, with a familiar pride. He continued further, the words from the article repeated in his mind as bible verses: Stroke the shaft, work on the shaft while massaging the lower, cup the lower in your mouth. He hadn’t skipped a beat. Shiro’s body tensed; waves of heat and of cold splashing within him, goosebumps, shivers, and sweat beading as he tried to control his legs. But he moaned Keith’s name like a prayer, over and over again—the syllables escaping from deep within his throat. Shiro sat up, licking his lips as moans escaped from in between his teeth. He hadn’t known exactly where to put his hands. He could have tangled them in Keith’s hair, but his hands wanted to clench against the edge of the bed. However, they also wanted to wrap around Keith’s waist and throw him on the bed beside him.

He could feel his climax rising, his voice now not moans but cries out.

“God, Keith!”

Keith affirmed his pleasure in it all, humming sweetly as he continued to move his tongue. This had been the most fun Keith could think about since the baseball game; the thrill, the butterflies, the feeling of victory forming deep inside of him. He continued until Shiro couldn’t help but lay back on the bed again, his hands over his eyes in disbelief. Within moments, finally, Shiro yelped out, holding the sheets.

“Fuck Keith, I’m—”

And before he could finish, Keith was swallowing as much as he could. The article hadn’t necessarily told him to do that, but he was told among his peers that it was considered well-mannered. He did so until he licked every drop. He wiped his mouth before licking off any excess from off his fingers. He looked down to his surprise, still finding Shiro’s member hard. A part of him felt disappointed, as if he hadn’t really followed the article’s instructions thoroughly. However, before he could try again, Shiro reached from under him and pulled Keith up to his mouth. Keith smiled as Shiro planted kisses among his chin and cheek, their mouths finally colliding in a wave of passionate kisses. Keith straddled Shiro, feeling the pressure of his member against his own crotch. He could feel himself becoming more flushed by the second, Shiro looking at him. At once, in this moment and moment only, he saw Shiro looking at him in a way that he had only hoped. Completely in love—a dewy-eyed look as their foreheads touched, a craving among his lips, his hold tight on Keith.

Keith tried so hard to be patient. He almost wished he hadn’t said it. But he meant it at that moment, and it was disappointing to see the aftermath. Keith had leaned in close and whispered, no begged, “Please Shiro...fill me. I want it now...”

 It was as if those were the magic words to end the moment. He took a mental picture before that expression had left him forever. Shiro sighed, looking down in shame as he released Keith and placed him beside him.

“Was it…was it something I said?”

“No, champ, it’s…” Shiro sighed to himself aloud, dropping his head and letting his fingers claw at the back of his neck. Keith rubbed his back and shoulder.

“Please, Shiro…”

“I can’t Keith….” He looked back to see Keith’s disappointment, his heartbreak now in the back of his throat. The depth of his own eyes.

“Keith…I lost my virginity to someone that I loved completely. Someone that, ‘till this day regardless of what has happened…I am glad to have done that with. It’s an experience I will always cherish and remember, and I…”

He kissed the disappointment away, holding Keith’s cheek as he pressed his lips to Keith’s for a precious moment.

“I don’t want to ruin that chance for you, Keith…. I can’t ruin that for you...”

“But why can’t it be you?” Keith protested within the heat of the moment. “I want it to be you!”

“You want it to be now, but Keith what about in a year…. what about in 10 years? What about when you’re my age? Would you have wished it was me still? Or would you have met your partner and wished….” Shiro looked down. “I’m sorry, Keith.”

He looked at Keith once more before kissing his lips and forehead. “I hope you understand one day. You have to have some idea, don’t you?”

“Shiro…You’re not a monster. You’re not some molester—”

“—Keith—”

“Please, Shiro! It’s me! I know what I want! I’ve thought about it! I’ve gone over it a thousand times in my own head. I know how this all sounds—”

“—Keith, stop—”

“—When you try to rationalize it, it doesn’t make sense. You can’t make sense of something you just feel, it just happens—”

“—Enough, Keith.” Shiro’s voice was stern. Loud. Law. His voice returned to its regular tone. “Enough…please…Come on, kiddo. I’m not the guy for you.”

Shiro turned around to see him. “I mean, look at me. Keith.” He placed his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “I could be your father. Yeah, we fool around, and I’ve let it come this far, but if things were right they would have never even come this far. And I love you, but I love you too much to---”

Shiro breathed out. He looked in front of him, his head lowering. “…Maybe, you should leave for the day. Keith…”

With that, Keith started to put on his clothes, trying to not let his tears escape his eyes before he was far way from Shiro’s view. He spoke once more before leaving, “Just think about it…please Shiro…”

“Out…please…”

 

 

 

          There couldn’t have been a night quieter if no one had been inside. Keith had let his tears dry; he hadn’t been in a place to really care enough to wipe them or do anything else to be honest. He felt so stupid…His crying had been stupid. His feelings had been stupid. But it was even stupider that he couldn’t help but feel them or feel sad or cry. It wasn’t about earlier today. It wasn’t that Shiro didn’t want to take his virginity, or even that Shiro asked him to leave, but it was the feeling of wanting so unachievable. The saying went that if you set your mind to it, you could have anything. This was torture. He did more than set his mind to this, he did more than think about it—he prayed, he craved this. He partially knew that he could never have it. But that hadn’t meant that it didn’t hurt any less…

What he wanted could have never been so clear. And he never thought he could have ever gotten this far. But it was like almost winning a race, almost making it. Having all the right things, in all the right orders up until the final moment. Almost having the man of his dreams. There were so many feelings in such a short matter of time. Had something been wrong with him?  Having half of the summer, nearly feeling as if it was wasted. It hurt to think that this would end…And Keith no that it eventually had to, but not like this. Now, more than anything, he feared what Shiro would think of him. He feared what he thought about himself, about what he thought he had done to Keith. He had done nothing besides make Keith crazy about him, and that was of his own volition.

Nonetheless, this had been the longest he had been to Shiro’s house. He wasn’t sure exactly whether he had been expected back or had overstayed his visit or stepped over the boundaries. There was no way in really knowing unless Shiro called right now and—”

“—Keith! Phone!”

He peeled himself from off the bed and ran, holding the phone and turning himself away from his father.

“Hello?”

“Hello? Keith—”

“Hi, Pidge.” His urgency melted.

“Wow, good to see you too, I guess. Listen, have you been okay? I haven’t seen you all week, so I figured, I—”

“—Yeah I’ve been fine Pidge. I’ve just been a little under the weather.”

“I’m sorry.” She didn’t sound so sorry. “Hey, how about I come over and I—”

“—Uh, sorry. I’d have to ask my dad—”

“—Then ask him.”

This girl

“–Ask me what?” Akira chimed in, his hands wrestling a bowl of cookie dough, his matching spoon fighting the chocolatey goo. Keith froze up. He covered the receiver before groaning under his breath and rolling his eyes.

“Dad is it okay if I have a friend come over?”

“Which friend, pup?” He wrestled with the dough.

“Uh, Pidge?”

Immediately, his eyes lit up, a familiar proud smile on his face. “Sure pup! Does Katie like chocolate chip cookies?”

Keith caught his groan in his throat. _Couldn’t he just be pathetic in peace?_ “Do you like chocolate chip, Pidge?”

She giggled, hearing Akira’s grunts in the background. “Of course, I do. I’ll be right over. Tell your dad I said thank you—”

Keith looked back to see Akira’s exuberantly, dad-like smile. “Do I finally get to meet your girlfriend?”

 

 

When Pidge had come over, Akira wrapped her in the heartiest hugs he could muster before sending her upstairs to Keith room with their own plate of cookies, following her up the stairs with milk to compliment the meal. Akira slid them into the door before announcing their presence,” Hey Pup! Did you know Pidge was enrolling into the Garrison program too?! I added more cookies than usual for celebration!”

He placed them down simply before wiping his hands and stuffing them into the back of his jeans. “Don’t eat them all at once kids! I’ll be downstairs if you need anything!” He winked at Keith before beginning to walk out. Pidge pretended not to notice, laughing to herself before the door had closed completely.

“I think I love your dad, Keith.”

“Good. Wanna switch?”

She hmphed through her nose, pulling them up the bridge of her nose. “Keith. What the hell? Everyone’s been sick about you, you know.”

“I’ve been sick.”

“You don’t sound really sick.”

“Getting better, I guess.”

“As if..” She took a cookie, breaking it in half before taking a bite and speaking.

“Keith, you haven’t visited in a week.”

“I know that Pidge.”

Her tone became sharper. “Well gee, you care to explain?”

“I haven’t been feeling too hot, alright?”

She took another bite. “Do I look dumb to you?”

There was a silence.

She sighed,” Look. If you don’t tell me, I’m not above asking your dad. Would he know?”

After another moment, she began to get up, Keith beating her to the door and slamming it shut as she opened it.

“Okay, okay…”

“You’ve been crying, Keith.”

As he sat down on his bed in a defeated plop, he began to feel the nervousness rise within him. She witnessed this.

“Keith, you’re beginning to make me worry.”

He breathed out again. “I don’t know what to say. Or how to even say it. But look, just don’t ask my dad okay—because he wouldn’t know. And I sure as hell don’t want him beginning to ask questions.”

“Well, you just have to tell me, don’t you?”

“I don’t know how to even begin, Pidge…I don’t know how you’ll react. What you might do next.”

She took another bite of the cookie, taking down a swig of milk before joining him on the bed. “Well, I guess you’re just going to have to trust me...”

They exchanged looks, Pidge speaking up. “Come on…I know I gossip, but I do keep secrets, too. I promise….”

Keith could feel the tears rising in his eyes. Those feelings of nervousness, of pleading all coming back. He sniffled, wiping his face before opening his mouth. She placed an assuring hand on his thigh.

“Remember, when I asked you about Matt?”

“Yes…” She breathed, she began to put two and two together. “Keith…are you trying to tell me you’re gay?”

Keith took a breath. Pidge giggled. “I told you that didn’t matter, didn’t I?”

“That’s not all….” They looked at each other once more.

“What do you mean?” The giggles left her tone. She could see him beginning to revert into himself, his knees beginning to touch his chest. She scooted closer to him.

“Keith. Please. What do you mean?”

“I…I did something dumb. Really dumb.”

“Try me.” She watched his movements. “You can whisper it, or something. Just tell me—”

“—I started to see Shiro.”

For a moment, she needed to process. Her eyes blinked as she bit into her lip. “Did he…. did he hurt you?”

“No, Pidge. We started to see each other. Like really see each other. We began to talk about his past, and it led to him telling me about his childhood. I was questioning my own sexuality and I started to have a crush on him, and it…it…”

“Keith…”

He continued,” Last time, I wanted him to fuck me—”

“—Jesus, Keith —”

“— But he didn’t. He insisted that he wouldn’t because he wanted my first time to be special. With someone my own age.”

“Well, that makes sense, Keith…”

“I know.” More tears began to form in Keith’s eyes.

“It makes so much sense now…I didn’t know why I didn’t see it before…” She breathed through her nose. “I’m…I’m sorry Keith. But I think you’ll have appreciated him doing so versus not…”

“That’s what he said, too. I just…I never wanted something more in my life. I can’t understand why in the hell I want this so bad…but I do. And it’s with someone I should least want it from.”

“Keith…” Pidge took off her glasses, folding them neatly beside the cookies. “I know what you’re going through.”

“You…you do?”

Pidge stared at the floor for a long time before speaking again. But he could already tell what she had been referring to. It was the mourning in her eyes, the shame of the things she had seen, the things she had done. He saw Shiro’s eyes in hers. She began to tear up, sniffling them away before looking back up at him.

“Kavewoman Katie…” She breathed, rolling her eyes before letting out a short, miserable laugh. “When I was younger, I used to pray for someone that was just like me as a husband…. the irony, huh?”

She shook her head. “Matt and I have always been best friends. Most siblings fight. Not us. Never. We always got along. He protected me, and I protected him…. sophomore year, he began to hang out with these college kids near the Garrison rec center, and he met this girl...”

Keith reached for her hand, squeezing it gently.

“Matt has always been like me. He got bullied in school for the same things as me. The same interests, the same emotions, the same naivety…. when we love, we love hard. We feel everything at such a different intensity than anyone else I have ever met. It’s…anyways.” She wiped tears before continuing.

“Jennifer Duncan. He fell for her immediately… She was the complete and total opposite of him. He was into astronomy, learning, books, language…all she cared about was he would’ve done for her. One night, she came to him and she confessed to him that she was pregnant…”

“Was the kid his?”

“No—she was sleeping with the football team because Matt didn’t want to have sex with her. He wanted his first time to be special, and she just…it broke his heart. All of my life, I’ve just been looking for some kind of sustenance. Something real…he came in so distraught. He was just crying into my lap, describing all of the things he was planning for her, and one thing led to another and…”

Tears escaped from her eyes, Pidge wiping them before they could fall from her cheeks. “We were so in love…and scared, and helpless, and hopeless. If anyone ever found out, we knew our dad would send us off. We had to stop, but we had never…. I wondered if I was sick. If there was something wrong with me…”

She looked at him. “To be in love with someone that you were never meant to be in love with…. Matt eventually went off to college, and we haven’t talked about that summer since. He barely even talks to me anymore. The way he looks at me…He’s completely disgusted by me. I left my brother and my best friend…”

“Pidge…I’m so…I’m so sorry…”

“Jennifer Duncan’s younger cousin Heather heard Matt in I in the bathroom once after school. She told me that Jennifer had suspected that we had…but…she never thought goody-two-shoes Katie could do it. That’s why I can’t wait to get out of here…I just want to leave this all behind me.”

“So, do you still have those feelings?”

“That’s the sad part, Keith. I think I always will have those feelings.” She looked up at him. “It’s a lot easier said than done trying to get over someone.”

“I just don’t know what to do Pidge.”

“There’s not much that you can do, Keith. It must eventually end. You know, that right?”

“Yeah…I was just hoping not like this…”

The rest of the night the two ate the cookies, their conversation rising and lowering. Though it hurt, it felt good to open up to someone and to not be judged. Or for Shiro to be judged. It felt good to be trusted enough with a secret and in order to return the favor. Eventually, Keith took her home on his bike, but not before hugging her goodnight.

“Thank you, Pidge. Really…”

“Thanks, Keith…”

Keith looked up to see Matt’s distant silhouette for a moment before he walked away from the window. He looked down at Pidge.

“If you ever need to talk, just let me know.”

“You too Keith.”

She called out to him once more before he rode off.

“Hey, Keith—”

“—Yeah?”

“Were you seriously thinking about enrolling in the Garrison program?”

“Yeah, for aviation.”

“Me too. See you next semester.” The two exchanged smiled before he watched her walk into the house and wave goodnight.

 

 

 

 

 

Keith got butterflies from just placing his hand on the door. However, he reminded himself to just blurt out what he had practiced. First, he would apologize. He never intended to make Shiro feel pressured about asking for what he asked for, and he wanted nothing but for Shiro to be happy. He understood what he was saying now, and he thought that maybe they could start again. Perhaps, if he had wanted, they could end there and just be what they were before. Perhaps, they could just be professional if Shiro had seemed to need the help. Regardless, he understood why certain things couldn’t happen and he was content with the relationship turning into what Shiro desired. This was more than just a silly summer affair, and if he can help him in any way to help Shiro understand that then maybe, things wouldn’t be so bad?

If it were up to Keith, they would continue to see Shiro. And they could have just done what they were both comfortable with. But this was no longer about him. He sighed, straightening out his clothes and slicking back his chair. He reminded himself of James Dean in A Rebel Without A Cause, except of course less exaggerated and looser curls if any had remained on his head. He cleared his throat simply. C’mon damn it…just rip the band-aid off. He forced his knuckles into the door, pressing the doorbell twice before hearing rustling inside. When the door began to open, he cleared his throat and spoke.

As the door revealed who it was, Keith closed his mouth completely. His eyes wide in disbelief.

“Hello? How can I help you?”

This must have been Allura; her eyes had been…. gorgeous, narrowed slightly over white eyebrows and curls that managed to almost curling right into her retinas, her hair in a big messy bun. Holding Luna, the resemblance was uncanny. Luna giggled, reaching her little arms out to Keith, shrieking with excitement. He could yet feel his heartbreaking.

Keith chuckled, “Hiya, kid…Excuse me, Ms. Takashi. Is…Is Mr. Shiro here?”

Allura shuffled Luna back into her arms before continuing to cradle her.

“He stepped out for one moment, but may I ask—”

“—Keith. Keith Kogane.”

Allura paused for a moment before her eyes got big. She let out a breath before smiling.

“Keith? Akira’s boy Keith?”

“That’s me...”

“Oh my—it’s been…wow, you have really grown up, haven’t you? Come inside…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much again for all of the kudos, comments, bookmarks, love, and support! See you soon!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you guys! 
> 
> So the story gets a little NAMBLA lol--It's just fiction, but I do want it known that I do not condone NAMBLA-like beliefs or advocate for them. It's just a story. So it can't be held against me if I run for president someday...
> 
> Anyways, thanks so much for tuning in! And thanks for everything! I did have a bunch of different ideas for what to write next. Or whether to continue the series in some way, or focus on something else within the universe. But who knows?

She was perfect, a woman dressed well in a corporate suit and pumps, her eyes a little tired but nonetheless mesmerizing along with her smile. Luna was her in every way as they giggled and smiled at each other. Luna had never looked so lit up, her little cheeks flourished and fat. She, they both looked completely happy at the moment. He was trying to process all of this in a way which hadn’t made tears form down his eyes.

  
“Keith…”

He held them back.

“Shiro’s been telling me how much of a big help you’ve been around the house! Thank you so much for helping out!”

“It’s no problem—I, uh, I broke his window last summer. So, I kinda owed him.”

Allura giggled. “Which window?”

“The master bedroom.”

She smiled before looking at Luna. “Nice shot!”

There hadn’t been a long wait before the front door had opened.

“We’ve been giving her Enfamil, and that looks to be doing her wonders after the breast milk though so I—”

He stared at Keith for a moment before remembering to speak, “Keith! How are you feeling, champ? Pidge told me you were under the weather?”

“I’ve been fine Mr. Shiro…”

Allura looked at them both. “Keith was just telling me how he made a ball fly right into our room, Shiro…”

Shiro laughed, barely hiding his nervousness. “Yeah, it startled me because it hit the cabinet while I was reading…”

She smiled one of her million-dollar smiles at him. “He’s gotten so big since I’ve seen him last…”

“I know…. he’s going to enroll in the academy, ‘Lori…”

She gasped,” How exciting! Your father must be very proud, Keith...”

Keith’s voice was beginning to grow hoarse,” Thanks…”

 

There was a moment before Shiro broke the silence, taking Luna into his arms. The little girl stared at Keith, cooing silently. “Keith, Allura and I were just about to unpack her bags upstairs…may I ask you one last favor of watching Luna for us?”

“Yeah, no problem Mr. Shiro…” He accepted the little girl into his arms simply, Luna wrapping her arms around his face, mimicking the kisses he had given her. He turned away before Allura could see him. There was a silence as she only stared before following Shiro up the stairs. He had tried to be respectful, to not follow them up there and to eavesdrop, but something in him had to know. He took Luna, beginning to put on a bottle. One he had his alibi, he silently started up the steps and taking her into her room. From there, he closed the door, which only muffled their voices slightly. The door closed silently, Keith beginning to listen.

“Takashi, you have every right to be upset with me…”

Shiro’s voice raised as if he had been bottling it all up and it was slowly beginning to spill over.

“Upset? Fucking upset, Allura, I’m livid—where the hell have you been?!”

“If you just give me a chance to explain—”

“—Lori, there is nothing that justifies leaving your daughter at home for six months! Six months, Lori! No phone call, no letters—”

“—I know. I know, Takashi. It’s been long, and I should have never had left without explaining myself, or the situation, but I needed to leave at that time immediately because—”

“—No! No, I don’t want to hear it.”

He had never heard Shiro so emotional.

“That little girl in there won’t know why; I can explain it to her every day when she gets older, and she may still never know why her mother abandoned her—”

“—I was going to come back, Shiro!”

“—Who knew that!?! You didn’t TELL anybody. What am I supposed to think??”

“I’m sorry!”

“And what-what the hell is this?” Keith only could assume that he was talking about her outfit. “You run off to La La Land for a better fucking life, and you leave a family behind you? Like we didn’t even exist? Like a coward?”

“I could have told you! I could have told you, but I didn’t because I knew you wouldn’t accept it. And I didn’t want your fucking permission to live my life anymore!”

“My permission!? When was there ever a time that you were held within these four walls! When were you locked up in this house—you went wherever and whenever you pleased—and I always, always let you do it. Without complaint”

“You didn’t have to say it—it was my role as a mother to stay—”

“—Oh, well it looks like you’ve been slacking to me!”

“I didn’t want to stay here taking care of your goddamn baby!”

“My goddamn baby!? She’s yours too, Allura!”

“I know she is—”

“—Than what are you saying!?”

“—I’m saying that I didn’t want to be fucking cooped up in here with you, Shiro!”

Keith had managed to keep Luna asleep, his hand over her ears. Suddenly, there was a plop onto the bed, a man’s sobbing. Then, there was a second plop on the bed. Allura’s voice ensued.

“I’m sorry…. I’m sorry—I really am, Takashi. I didn’t mean it like that…I love being Luna’s mother…”

 

After another pause, she spoke up again. “I love Luna…I love you. You know I do.”

Keith felt his stomach turn.

“But Takashi, we were kids—and we weren’t ready for that type of responsibility.”

“You weren’t ready!”

“You’re right!” There was a silence. “I’m still not! My father is on his deathbed, Takashi….”

“…Allura….”

“And I’m having to run a company I know shit about! I couldn’t continue living for you, Shiro. I had to live for myself!”

“You were never living for me.”

“Yes, I was….” Her voice grew smoother. “Shiro, we were never in love…”

“That’s not true.”

“I could never have been Lotor, Shiro…”

The very name stung deep, Keith continued to listen.

“And that’s who you loved. And when he went away, you were so helpless and disoriented. You wouldn’t eat, you wouldn’t sleep, your mother called me so many times, asking me to come over for you—I just…. I just wanted you to be happy. I figured, what the hell? Being a housewife’s not that bad a job, I can settle.”

“You didn’t need to have done that…”

“That’s what I thought I wanted at the time too…I thought, hey, we’re young but…I wasn’t meant to stay Takashi…I made myself a crutch for you for such a long time because, after Lotor, I thought you would never get back up. We always wanted a family…But then, my father called…He has stage four…”

“God, Allura…”

“He had gifted this company to me, and…this company is all I have left to keep him alive with. I couldn’t just ignore this.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you call? Anything.”

“Because…. if you would have asked me to come home…. I would have bought a ticket that next day and let the place ruin into the ground…I love you Takashi, I do. I will always be in love with you as a wife and as a mother to our child, but I…I had to stop living your dream. I would have kept going willfully if I could’ve. If it had been a matter of getting bored, I would have just gotten a hobby, but…I needed this…”  

Keith held still as he could hear the door creaking open, letting a breath out once it had closed again.

“I’ve seen the way that boy looks at you…. Shiro?”

“What?”

“Please don’t tell me you’ve done something stupid…”

There was another pause.

“Allura, please…”

“He looks at you the same way you used to look at Lotor—”

Their voices began to rise again; their conversation of both love and hate. How there was obviously remnants of happiness and warmth there; of resentment that had been built up over years and finally making its way to the light.

“—Okay, you do not get to come home after six months, then out of the blue accuse me—”

“—It’s not an accusation if I see it. It’s clear as day! —”

“—Lori, just stop—”

“—That boy’s heart nearly shattered in pieces when he saw me. Do you think I’m some kind of idiot, Shiro?! Do you want me to go ask him?!”

“Don’t you dare wake up my daughter—”

“—Then tell me the truth!” Allura’s voice began to lower into a whimper. “I have a right to know…. just as much as you do…”

He could hear the floor creak from within the other room. Shiro’s voice had shattered.

“You did…didn’t you? You….and him?”

“I never wanted it to be like this…”

“Shiro, do you know that boy’s age? Do you? —”

“—Of course, I do! You think I’m proud of it? You think I’m parading it around—”

“—Oh what? That you couldn’t help it, and he came onto you, and you’ve had urges since you were young—”

“—No.” He growled at her. “It’s not like that”

“Then tell me how it is Shiro…Tell me how it is.”

He had returned to his previous sobbing. It had made Keith want to rush into the room, but he made sure to continue that Luna slept peacefully in his arms. He wiped his own tears. The pain within his voice nearly drove Keith mad.

“Shiro…. I understand. You were distraught, you were heartbroken, I had left, and I didn’t explain why or where I was going. And for that, I’m sorry, but…. I can’t condone this…I can’t allow this to happen, do you understand?”

He spoke up again,” I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t know how it started or how I let it happen, but I…. There is no excuse…”

“Shiro…” Keith listened to how her weight shifted in the room, how she came closer to him. “You have to let it go…We can fix this…but you first have to let this go…” Her voice only got sweeter from there. “If you care about this boy…you have to let him be free to be with people his own age. You can’t keep his hopes up like this…I’ll leave you two to it…”

When she left from out of the room, it was too late or Keith to pretend as if he hasn’t been listening. Luna had been glued to him, her little arms reaching up towards his neck in frozen sleep. Allura looked at Keith, her eyes narrowing with a kind of sympathy. She came into the room, closing the door behind her, beginning to pick up Luna and tuck her into her bed.

“You heard us?”

Keith nodded his head, a tear running down his face.

“You must think of me as some monster—”

“—I don’t,” Keith said simply, wiping another tear. After Luna had rolled over to one of her sides, Allura bent down to Keith. She took a hand into her own, massaging deep into his knuckles.

“Keith—you’re so young. Your life hasn’t even begun yet—you have so much to learn and experience.”

“You sound like him.”

She let out a short laugh. “No, you sound like him. I hear so much of him within you. I told him the same thing when we were kids.” She indeed was a mother—despite the unreadiness or the wanting of a different life. Her strokes were calming. Keith wanted to hug her.

“Please just don’t blame him. Please…”

“Shiro’s a full grown—”

“I know, but…he told me all of the same things you told him. He promised me to find someone my own age, to find someone to explore my sexuality with…but I just thought…”

Tears eased out of his eyes. “I just thought if I could prove that I was mature for my age that he and I…”

She wrapped her arms around him. “You sound so much like him...”

Keith let his weight shift into her, her arms growing tighter. He spoke in between them. “Allura…he didn’t. We didn’t—”

“—Okay.” She hugged him some more before letting go and brushing through his hair.

“He does care for you, Keith. I could see it in his eyes, but perhaps in another universe or time…but not now. Now, we have things to learn and grow from. I have a business to run, but I also have a family…and I need to balance both in my life. He needs to channel his feelings into healthier alternatives…and you?”

She lifted his face to see her completely. “You need to live your life. He’s waiting for you…”

 

Keith got up from his seat, thanking her with a loving squeeze of her hand before making his way into the bedroom. There, he saw Shiro, his face completely flushed with fresh tears leaving his eyes as he laid eyes on Keith.

“Keith…I am so sorry.”

“I understand why you didn’t want to…I understand why you did…”

“I should have never—”

“—Stop, Takashi”

Keith went to him, hugging him. The two in silence for a while as Shiro muffled his crying. When he sat beside him, Shiro sniffled and brought himself to stillness. He ran his tongue over his mouth before speaking. “She’s right, you know…”

He looked over at Keith. “I never really got over it. It was supposed to be Lotor there. Lotor was supposed to be raising Luna…I had no idea Allura was only staying to...” More tears ran down his face. “I feel like a parasite… Taking from her, taking from you….”

“Shiro…I couldn’t have chosen anyone better to learn from. I know you want me to go out and grow, but…no one else would have been able to explain it more than you. Or to show it better than you. Or to let me process things on my own.” He took Shiro’s hand. “You don’t just take. You give too—and you gave me one of the best summers I could have ever asked for.”

“Keith…”

“I’m serious. Please…You were the only one to ever listen to me despite how young I am…please listen now…Luna was a gift for the both of you. Allura may have not wanted to stay, but she doesn’t regret Luna at all. She loves Luna wholeheartedly. We gave, and we took…we exchanged. Maybe it’s just my age showing through, but I will never regret you. Thank you for helping me begin to explore myself in a place where I may have never done so before…thank you—”

Shiro placed a kiss on his forehead, bringing him close and hugging him tight to his chest.

“Thank you…thank you for showing me what I needed to do for myself…” Shiro whispered. “Without you, I would have never been honest with myself…”

Keith hugged him hard; any harder and he was sure one of them was going to break a rib. But in this moment, for the first time, Keith understood exactly what he was feeling. It was shameless love. A love that allowed him to focus on his family; a love that would always hold him in his heart and mind. A love, that perhaps, maybe one day would be able to rekindle. But a patient, understanding love. A love that didn’t have to hide or be kept secret.

“I love you, Shiro…”

“I love you too, champ...”

 

Keith placed a hand on Shiro’s before beginning to leave. He smiled as he saw Allura staring down at the sleeping Luna, love deep in her eyes. When she noticed him there, she smiled. He smiled back, waving before shuffling his jacket on.

 

 

 

 

_Late August 1984_

 

Akira punched the final box into the back of his trunk before slamming the trunk, ending his battle with the loaded car. He let out a triumphant sigh, looking back to see his son and Pidge.

“Alright kids, I think that’s the last of it. Ready to go?”

Keith looked at Pidge. “Your family’s meeting us there, right?”

“Right,” Pidge confirmed, the two heading towards Keith’s bike. He took her hand, helping her onto the back before climbing aboard and starting up the engine.

“Alright, pup, I’ll be following you.”

“Can we stop one more place before we leave?”

 

The two waited eagerly for the door to open, Allura and Shiro opening the door. Luna laid in her father’s arms, a little smile on her face.  She smiled towards Akira’s way, Akira honking the horn. Shiro and Keith met eyes.

“You guys heading out? Ready?”

“We’re pretty much ready—right Pidge?”

Pidge could only stare at Allura. The uncanny resemblance…her beauty. Allura laughed and smiled, holding her hand out.

“Hello, Pidge. I’m Lori.”

Pidge finally shook her hand, her smile half embarrassed and still half in awe. “Katie is my real name.”

Luna moaned, her little arms reaching out for Keith. He held her one more time, hugging her to his chest and running his hand through her hair.

“I’ll miss you Luna Moona”

She moaned back, reaching for Pidge, who kissed her forehead and rocked her in her arms. Luna mimicked her kisses.

Shiro looked at them both; the color returned to his face. Shiro looked like himself again.

“Alright you guys, I’m expecting you to come and visit sometime.”

“We will Mr. Shiro!”

“Promise.” Keith smiled.

 

Allura moved past them towards the car, her and Akira’s roars of excitement in the background. Pidge went out into the yard to play with Luna one more time, the two giggling. Keith looked up at Shiro, the two smiling.

“Shiro, do you think that there will ever be a chance…”

 

Shiro knew what he was asking before he could finish. “I hope so, Keith. One day.”

Shiro placed a hand on his shoulder. “Until then…make me proud, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Oh—and also, invest in some baby powder—the ship wheels in aviation are no joke.”

The two laughed, Shiro playfully punching Keith’s arm. He messed up Keith’s hair, Keith laughing as he backed away.

“I do love you, Keith…I always will.”

“I love you too.”

 

When he began to return to his bike, Pidge gave Luna back to Shiro and taking her place back on the bike. Allura and Akira waved before Akira called, “I’ll be back after I drop them off!”

“’Kay Chief! We’ll be here!”

Keith waved to them once more before beginning to drive off down the street. He felt liberated, prepared. Sure, he didn’t end up having all of what his heart desired. But life was long—it would come eventually, in time, and gracefully with age. It gave him time to prepare for it is all—and he could definitely take the time to learn some new tricks. He could feel Pidge’s arms wrapping deeper into him as they took through the streets. It was for her, a new beginning as well, not being tainted with the mistakes of her past. This would go down in history as the beginning of a transitional time for Keith—the summer of 1984.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first week hadn’t been so bad—he found that he had enough time in between his classes for naps or to get a good chunk out of homework out of the way. The only class he really had a hard time in was…well, this one.

 

Despite a two-hour nap, he couldn’t for the life of him stay awake. It was the atmosphere; something about it. The room itself had been cold, creeping a breeze underneath his shirt and up his spine. The quietness of it; how all the kids muttered to each other, whispered underneath their breaths to respect the stillness of the room. Keith could feel his head slipping from his hold, any moment now he would go crashing into his desk, and he may not have been able to get back up. Some kid had already beat him to the punch, leaving a puddle of slob in front of him, isolated in a corner. He could feel a hand run up his back and past his shoulder, looking up to find Pidge, who smiled weakly as she walked among some of the new freshmen girls. It was good to see her making friends.

Keith hadn’t been so lucky—not yet. Not because there weren’t people who tried. It was just…he had a hard time opening as of late. He would work on it…but it was as if these kids had no real foundation to them. I guess nothing that made them truly different. Of course, this had been an early guess of what they were like and who they were, but Keith wasn’t like these kids. He missed his friends from the yard—the loud, dirty-mouthed, trash-talking type. The type kids you didn’t want to invite home. He admired their honesty; the confidence in being blissfully ignorant. Not the ones to stick their pinkies out when drinking their Colas. From what he could tell so far, though it was very minimal, was that these kids were clean-cut, strapping. All way too disciplined for a spit handshake or a dare to skinny dip if they lost the day’s baseball game. It was just so…

“Bored?”

He looked for the voice that interrupted his inner monologue. He was darker, with a familiar, stunning glance. His hair coiled into his face, giving him a hint of mystery to his face. His voice didn’t match his face.

“You have no idea.”

“Try me. It’s going to be like this for another five minutes. The professor usually has to make a few stops before coming to class.”

“You’ve had them before?”

“Last semester. What about you?”

“I’m a freshman.”

The boy made a knowing moan, nodding his head. “How do you like it so far?”

“It’s okay—a little boring for now.”

He let a laugh escape through his nose, his jaw clenching as the mystery boy spoke. “Don’t worry about that. That’ll change soon enough.”

Keith liked the way he smiled; not too big, yet enough to show that he wasn’t distant. “I’m Keith. Keith Kogane.”

The boy looked at his hand before shaking his hand. “Kinkade. Ryan Kinkade.”

The two stared for a moment, nodding in agreement. Keith might have liked the way he smiled, but he loved the way he stared. His eyes stern,  focused.

Keith continued,” Concentration’s in Aviation”

Ryan replied,” Long Range. Which class are you taking for aviation?”

“I passed the entry exam.”

“Okay, so my class,” Kinkade concluded. “You aren’t hard to miss, are you?”

A voice made all heads turn forward. Keith laughed looking ahead, noticing Ryan taking a second glance before turning his attention forward. Keith hid his smirk.

 

“Remember students: I’m not late, you all are just early.”

The students laughed; this man demanding attention just from his presence alone. His white hair was neatly stacked into a bun, the rest falling behind him. His glasses hung gently from the bridge of his narrow nose. His voice was deep, sharp, nothing like Keith had ever been accustomed to. His walk was demanding,  his mannerisms as he even set down his coffee and his neat collection of books. The man brushed the wrinkles from out of suit before picking up the chalk and bringing the nearest board to him.

“I will be teaching you all the fundamental basics of Exploration Theory and ship safety. I’m not the one to waste time going over syllabuses—yes you will have a quiz next class, study on your own time. Yes, this class will be hard. Yes, this class will be the reason you lose 20% of your hair. I do not take makeup work, and I expect you to be in those seats at noon. Sharp. You come in with professionalism and punctuality, and you will pass with an A, I assure you.  I will say my name once and once only—my name is Professor Lotor.”

 

He finished the ‘r’ on the board, Keith staring blankly as he could feel his stomach knotting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys again for the love! The time it took reading this, the support it took in adding kudos and comments. Bookmarks, alldat <3 <3
> 
> If you guys are writing, let me know so I can read some stuff! I'd love to see what you guys imagine! <3 <3 Thanks again!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for tuning in! I'll be annoying this time and ask for kudos if you guys think the story should be continued? Thanks so much! Again, I am super grateful. Catch you later!


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